Precocious Crush
by Makokam
Summary: So, you meet someone who gets you. You have fun together, you like each other, and they're cute. But he says you're too young. What are you supposed to do? Just let it go? -Cover Art by Coasting-
1. Chapter 1

Makos Message: This story came about from some random occurrence and a joke from Team Four Stars Dragoball Z Abridged series combining. It will feature things from both the movie and the comic, though I haven't actually _read_ the damn thing yet(I'm working on fixing that), so forgive me if I get some things wrong. Also, this is not intended to be some sort of "prediction" of what will be in the second movie, though, there will be some inspiration from the sequel comic(since I have read the first issue of _that_. ), and should be considered an alternate universe. That said, please enjoy the story, and feel free to let me know what you like, what you don't, and why.  
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Life is different now. 

Marcus is a great guy and he's doing his best to be a father, but he takes me seriously when I ask for a MovieStar Make-Over Sasha. It's sitting on a shelf by my bed. She looks whore-tastic.

But it's…kinda nice actually. I'm not sore all the time from training five hours a day, I can actually have friends come over, hell, I can _have_ friends. Don't get me wrong, I never really tried to have friends before, I didn't even really like a lot of people. They just seemed so pathetic. Petty concerns and whining over little things while I was taking down mob bosses.

That's over now. We got our revenge, cleaned up the streets a bit and… Okay, I got beat the fuck up that last day. Even when Daddy was chasing me around with a baseball bat to train my reflexes and evasive maneuvers he never hit me more than twice in a row. After that I was ready to hang it up. I mean, mission fucking accomplished, time for me to get my happy ending, right?

I'm not sure I'm happy though. Obviously I still miss daddy, and as unconventional and dangerous as our life was, it was fun. The first week was easy, and I could talk to Dave at school. Yeah, Junior-High and High-School in the same building, who knew? But after that first week I just felt lazy without a few dozen push ups and sit ups under my belt.

Marcus didn't mind, but you could tell he'd rather I was working the TV remote than the speed bag.

I ended up spending a lot of time with Dave. As much as I wanted to try and make some normal friends, I wasn't normal, and Dave was the only person I could relate to anymore. Not having my daddy around anymore made me realize how normal I'm not. Other kids don't talk like I do, other kids can't even take a punch without crying, other kids have an almost idealized view of the world, even the bad ones. They haven't seen the real monsters in this world. Not like I have. I kind of envy them for that.

It just makes me want to sharpen my knives, put on my costume and go looking for muggers.

With Dave.


	2. Chapter 2

Makos Message: So, here's chapter two. I'm trying something new with this story, writing short chapters, so having two chapters up in two days is literally obliterating my previous fastest update. … wait… I wrote the first chapter on Tuesday, but I uploaded it on Wednesday…now it's Thursday morning so… yeah. Wow. I'm gonna try to make a habit of this but no promises. I did manage to find some comic scans, btw, and incorporated a little something from them. I think that's all there really is to say. Be sure to let me know what you liked, what you didn't, and why.

* * *

I said I get to talk to Dave, and I do. I have his cell number and we text each other every day. But after taking out D'Amico we were both… Enjoying being the winners, I guess, so he was going back to his old life, and I was adjusting to my new one. Point is I didn't notice how little we were actually talking. It felt like a lot, but now that I want to talk to him more I'm all too aware of it being an hour or more between texts.

I tried to go talk to him during lunch today. He was sitting with this girl, Katie, and they were all over each other. Gag me with a 9mm. I guess this is what he meant when he said she was really happy he got out of that warehouse alive.

Anyway, I finally get his attention( by walking up and telling them to get a room), and he introduces me, it went something like, "Oh hey. Mindy, this is Katie. Katie, Mindy."

"Hi Mindy. You are just so adorable, I love the pigtails. How has your first week here been?"

"It's been good." I looked over at Dave as I said, "I only had one run in with Bullies."

I smirked as he covered his mouth and looked away, trying not to laugh.

"Oh. Well, I'm glad it only happened once." She said while giving me this smile that was all shiny bright teeth, "If it ever happens again be sure to let a teacher know about it, okay?"

"Oh," I said, tilting my head to the side and doing my best impression of cute and innocent, "I don't think I have to worry about that."

Dave couldn't stop himself from snorting at that.

She sorta glared at him and hit him in the arm with the back of her hand, "It's not funny when students get bullied, you should know better."

I can't believe he said what he did next with a straight face, and he almost didn't, "You're right. Mindy, if you ever have trouble with bullies, you can come right to me and I'll help sort it out."

Hell, I almost burst out laughing.

I guess she suddenly noticed the time or something because she suddenly stood up and said she had to go help one of her classmates study for their physics test. She kissed Dave before she left and while she was walking away she farted and a rainbow shot out of her ass.

Okay I made that up. Even the part about her farting, unfortunately.

I sat down next to him and asked, "So you didn't tell her about me?"

"No. Should I have?"

"Of course not, stupid."

I don't really remember what we talked about from there. Probably just bullshitted about school. I just know it was really nice to have a conversation where I didn't have to pretend to be into Justin Bieber.

I want to shoot Justin Bieber.

In his tunk.


	3. Chapter 3

Makos Message: It's kind of amazing how little information I could find on gun care. At least in regards to how often to clean them and the effects of neglect. Lot's of stuff on how to clean and store them though. The best I could get was, "Clean them every time you fire them, your life could depend on it." and a vague, "Once a month" for non-fired weapons, so that's what I went with. Be sure to let me know what you liked, what you didn't, and why.

* * *

School is starting to drive me crazy.

I was doing okay at first, but it's getting harder and harder to sit still and focus. Not just in school, I feel like this all the time now, but in school I'm supposed to sit still and pay attention to the teacher. What makes it even worse is that during my dullest class I have a perfect view of the playground, and with each passing day it looks more and more like an obstacle course and I'm itching to run it.

I'm seriously tempted to just go out and just free run all over the damn thing.

But, that could give me away.

I mean, the point of the costume is to engage the enemy on your terms. You can find them but they can't find you. I guess that's why it's so rough on cops. Their identities are on public record. We have our costumes as a shield, all they have is the law and numbers.

Makes trying to take down people who employ car bombs and drive-bys all the more ballsy when you think of it that way.

I should give Marcus a hug.

But seriously, the last thing I need is to give anyone a reason to connect cute little Mindy Macready with "Show's over Motherfuckers"-girl.

It's still really tempting.

There is something that I do need to risk though. Something that's been gnawing at me for the last few days.

All my guns need to be cleaned!

Yes, Marcus disposed of all the guns left in our War Room after the assault on D'Amicos penthouse, and D'Amicos goons looted Safe House B, but those weren't the only weapons at our house, and there is still Safe House C… and they need to be taken care of! They're just sitting there, getting grimy and dusty and it's driving me nuts!

But I can't get to them.

We need to fix this.

Dave said he'd take me to get them when he got his license, but that's still a few weeks off. I don't know if I can wait that long. I'm seriously considering just taking Marcus' car while he's asleep.

Dave says not to do anything rash and that he has everything under control. It's cute. I don't know how much longer I can hold off on it though. Most of the guns hidden way in at the house are okay, but the guns at the safe house haven't been cleaned in over a month. Just the idea of them sitting there getting dirty and sticky makes my skin crawl.

I need to stop thinking about this or I'm gonna go nuts.

Fuck it. I'm running the playground.

I caught up with Dave before he left school and asked him to stick around. Katie seemed curious as to why, I just told her I needed his help with something.

She asked if she could help, and while I was trying to come up with a polite way to tell her to go the fuck away, Dave just said, "Nah, don't worry about it. I'll catch up with you later."

The expression on her face was priceless, little miss perfect had no idea what to make of that.

He waited until she was out of ear shot to ask what I wanted, and I told him I wanted him to time me.

"Doing what?" was all he said.

I took him around to the playground and said, "Say hello to my new obstacle course."

He grinned and laughed, "Alright, lets see what you can do," he said pulling out his phone.

As he set up the timer I plotted the course. After what he said I really wanted to show off, but I needed to keep it kinda tame incase anyone saw.

So, I decided on: Run up the slide, jump down, run across the see-saw, jump through the swing sets, over the tunnel things, through the wooden fort, roll under the bridge, up and over the arched ladder then back to Dave.

"Nice" Dave said as I came back for my time.

I grinned and said, "That was just a warm up."

I did two more laps before stopping and started adding it up to get an average time.

Suddenly he said, "Ya know what? I'm gonna give it shot."

I smirked at him, "Oh, this'll be fun to watch."

"Hey, have some faith, will you?" he said and grinned at me as he took off his backpack.

He snagged his foot jumping through the swings, and he nearly fell off the arched ladder, but his time was only ten seconds behind my average.

"Well, how'd a do?" he asked, slightly out of breath.

I glowered at the time, "Obviously the course was too easy," I said and tossed him the phone.

I was actually impressed, but there was no need to tell him that.


	4. Chapter 4

Makos Message: Oh, so what to say about this chapter? I like this one better than the others, I feel like I said enough this time without forcing anything, but I was able to write it in one sitting so I'm happy. Other than that, this is on my mind: Why put a disclaimer in your fanfic? It's Fan Fiction . net. Why would anybody think you owned the characters or setting you were writing about? That said, the new hero is all my creation.

* * *

Holy shit.

He really did have it under control.

Apparently all Dave was waiting for was for his dad to have some free time to take him to get his learners permit. After I told him I was ready to take Marcus' car he took his bike down to the DMV himself and got his permit. I can't tell you how surprised I was when he showed up in his dads car.

Marcus followed me when I ran out to see if I was really seeing what I was seeing.

Marcus, by the way, is the only person who knows that I'm Hit Girl AND that Dave is Kick Ass, so he gets why we hang out, and he doesn't like it. He wants me to keep the cape hung up for good. I don't blame him, he did take care of me until my dad got out of prison after all.

Dave did some impressively fast talking, convincing him that after the warehouse he was done with costumes and that he just wanted to take me out for a drive. Ya know, celebrate and shit. After all, I was his best friend.

I was kind of surprised by that, we haven't known each other all that long, but I guess it makes sense. Depending on each other for your life does bring people together.

He ruffled my hair when he said that. He's one of two people who can do that without me breaking their wrist, the other being Marcus and that's just because it'd be disrespectful.

Dave though…I kinda liked it.

Marcus insisted Dave have me back by ten, but I just stared at him like I was waiting for the punchline until he threw up his hands and said, "Fine, midnight then!" and walked away, adding that if I wasn't in the house at 12:01 he wasn't going to let me leave again until I was eighteen.

I was going to tell him to let me drive, but I decided not to, he _had_ just gotten his permit after all.

We hit my old house first and loaded the car up with the weapons stashed under the living room floor and in the bed room walls. Then we hit a McDonalds and took the food to Safe House C. When we got there I showed him how to strip down and clean a pistol. He cleaned one in about the time it took me to clean five, but it was his first time so it can be forgiven.

We talked, and we joked, and we ate. It was… nice. It was almost like being with my dad. Okay, no, it wasn't. It did feel kind of the same though. I can't really say why it was nice, it just…was.

We only got about half of them cleaned before we realized we needed to get back. I wanted to pack them up, but Dave suggested we just come back next week and that it'd be hard enough to hide the weapons we had already. I had to admit he had a point, and it wasn't like we were selling the safe house. Not to mention making a regular thing of this would be fun.

Outside, while I was waiting for Dave to unlock the car, I noticed a guy trying to jimmy a car door open. I also noticed something else.

I nudged Dave and nodded my head in the direction of the car thief. He looked at him for a minute, and I mean really looked. After a moment he said, "Do you think we should do something?"

I had a couple ski masks in the car, and I wanted to, I really did, but I said, "I don't think we need to. Look in the alley."

Maybe twenty feet from the guy was an alley, and just at the edge of it, was a guy in costume, just leaning up against the wall, staring at the douchebag. This guy looked like a medieval knight crossed with a biker. His head was hidden in a helmet that looked like a motorcycle helmet, but metal and with some sort of blade like crest, and was wearing a chain mail shirt with a leather jacket/vest/tunic/thing. His arms were crossed over his chest and he seemed to be waiting for the thief to notice him.

The car door popped open and the guy looked up, spotted us, smirked, and as he opened the door he looked behind him and spotted Biker Knight. He froze, and Biker Knight slowly moved two fingers up to the where his eyes would be, then turned them around, and with a quick stabbing motion pointed them at him.

"I'm watching you."

The thief stood there for almost a full minute before closing the door and running off.

Dave laughed and opened the door for me as I shook my head and said, "What a pussy."


	5. Chapter 5

Makos Message: I'd like to just give a heads up that there is some fairly dark commentary in this chapter. But then, a lot of Kick-Ass is fucked up, so I just consider it being faithful to the source material. Also, a friend of mine said that Mindy seemed far too introspective, so I thought I'd mention that this is one of the things I got from the comics, in that she spent a good portion of issue…five(?) narrating through her diary.

* * *

We had the stupidest, most fun argument ever on the way home.

I said that I thought the guy that scared off the car thief looked like a biker knight, and he said, "Huh. I thought he looked more like The Shredder crossed with a Power Ranger."

We argued over whether we should call him "Biker Knight" or "The Shred Ranger" the entire way home. I can't believe how many arguments Dave came up with. I guess it's one of the benefits of being a total dork.

I got home at about 11:15, and Marcus looked pissed, but I was home by the time he said so he didn't say anything.

I waited for him to go to sleep so I could text Dave to bring the car back so we could unload the weapons. We'd thought about stashing them at his house, but he said he really had no idea where he would put them.

Luckily I had found some loose floor boards in the guest bedroom and I could stash them under there. Unluckily I couldn't fit them all. We had to work fast and quietly to avoid waking Marcus up, and we needed to get pretty fucking creative to find a place for all of them.

You wouldn't think you could, but god-damnit, with a little effort and a lot of patience you _can_ fit an AK-47 in a teddy bear.

I've been thinking about that guy we saw the other night. Biker Knight, or Shred Ranger, or whatever we're gonna call him. I saw on the news that other costumed heroes are showing up. Waaay more of them online than actually on the street, but I couldn't remember hearing anything about that guy before or after we saw him. He seemed pretty serious about, more than Dave when he started but still nowhere near me and daddy. A lot of these other ones seem more like they're just playing superhero than actually trying to be one. A few seem to be more interested public service, ya know, cleaning parks and shit, than trying to stop crime. Other than Biker Knight I only know of one who has actually gotten involved with a crime in progress, The Guardian. He was on the news sometime after Red Mist appeared but before we knew he was backstabbing pussy douchebag toady cunt.

I can't wait until I can take a bowie knife and give him a vagina.

Then rape him with it.

I haven't gotten to talk to Dave in a few days. Katie has been really clingy for some reason and my homework load has been ridiculous.

At least it keeps me from getting bored.

Today at lunch though I spotted Dave sitting outside by himself. I went over and sat next to him. He seemed happy to see me. I asked him if he remembered how we used the playground as an obstacle course, and told him I came up with a day we could do it without waiting for everybody to leave.

When he asked what I had in mind, I punched him in the arm and said, "Tag. You're it."


	6. Chapter 6

Makos Message: Hello to everyone. I want to thank you guys for liking this enough to make it my second most alerted and third most viewed story in only two weeks. I'm honestly amazed. Other than that, I just want to say that I'm trying to put some effort into establishing things. I thought you'd like to actually watch things develop from point 1 (point zero being the movie) instead of me just having someone stuff their tongue in someone else's mouth in chapter two. So it might take awhile, but I hope it'll be fun trip.

* * *

So let me know if you're liking the story, if you're not, and why.

Ya know, maybe this "normal" thing isn't so bad.

When Marcus came home from work he brought Chinese and asked me if I wanted to watch a movie. It was a Disney movie, and I'll admit my first thought was, "You've got to be fucking kidding me." But… I didn't have any homework and I was bored so I said fuck it and sat down to watch the movie.

And I liked it.

I mean, I thought Disney movies were supposed to be sweet and fluffy and nauseating. But this, I mean, yeah. There was cute and sweet. But if you paid attention to what you were actually seeing, put some thought into what what you were seeing MEANT, you realize that shit was fucking DARK. I mean damn. I'm a fighter, and I know what works and doesn't work, but there were some "safe" alternative to violence in there that would kill people.

No. I didn't like it because of the violence.

It just stuck out at me, and seeing the darker undertones made the rest of the story far more interesting. It made me feel like there was actual conflict.

Kids my age probably wouldn't even notice half of what I did, so it was probably slipped in to make it watchable for the adults.

I don't know if I'm starting to _be_ less weird, or if the kids at school are just getting used to me, but a couple kids sat next to me at lunch today. Don't get me wrong, it wasn't like I was being shunned or some shit, the other kids just sort of kept well out of my personal space. These two actually sat next to me. It wasn't even like there were no other seats. I think they were going to talk to me, but lost the nerve after they sat down. Pussies.

I didn't say anything to them. I'm not the one that sat next to _them_ after all. If they want to talk to me they'll talk to me.

I bet Dave will be happy to hear that. He's been wanting me to have more of a life.

I'll have to ask him how his friends are. What are their names again? Marty I think? And… oh whatever. I'll try harder to remember next time he mentions them. Maybe tonight. It's gun cleaning night.

Dave's getting faster at gun cleaning. Tonight I was only able to clean three in the time it took him to do one. Other than that not much happened on our weekly night out. I was hopping I'd see Biker Knight(Dave can call him The Shred Ranger if he wants, I'm calling him Biker Knight) again. I even asked Dave to drive us around a bit to look but no luck.

I hope he didn't spend all the time on the costume only pussy out after that one night. That'd suck. He looked bad ass.

Oh. I almost forgot about this. Marcus asked if I liked the movie and take out thing we did the other night, and if I'd like it if it was a regular thing. I told him that'd be cool as long as they weren't all Disney movies.

I hope they just don't conflict with my nights out with Dave.


	7. Chapter 7

Makos Message: Man. I've been wanting to write this chapter for days. Finally gave up two hours of sleep to write it(only took that long because I kept nodding off while writing it.) That and I had to seriously stop and fight the urge to write, "I'm staring down the barrel of a forty-five" XD So yeah. A little more adjusting to life Out of Costume, a little more relationship building, tried to throw some laughs in there. Let me know what you thought of it, what you liked, what you didn't, what you thought worked, what you didn't, and the ever important WHY. Feedback helps me write a better story.

* * *

Well, this is the third, maybe fourth time I've had this dream, which makes it a recurring dream and worth mentioning.

It starts with D'Amico beating the crap out of me.

It's even worse than it was when it actually happened. I can't do a thing to him. I'm getting completely curb stomped by the asshole. Then I'm laying there on the floor, staring up into the barrel of a magnum. He's starring down at me, laughing, calling me a child. I can't move. I'm too weak to move. I'm completely helpless.

And then he's there.

And then D'Amico isn't.

Dave is standing over me, holding his hand out, asking if I'm okay.

I take his hand and he pulls me up. I can feel tears running down my face. I can't stop them. I sniff, and say, "Will you hug me? My Daddy just died."

He wraps his arms around me, I bury my face in his chest, and start sobbing. Everything fades to black and all I can feel his him gently rubbing the back of my head.

Weird.

So, I got tired of sitting at home over the weekend and called Dave up. He said he was hanging out with Todd and Marty at this place called Atomic Comics and invited me to come down if I could.

Luckily Marcus was available to drive me down there. He even gave me some money to spend while I was there.

I didn't see him when I walked in, so I ended up just sort of standing there in the doorway looking around like a dork Do you have any idea how bad it is to feel like a dork when surrounded by dorks?

I've been through too much shit to feel self-conscious in a goddamn comic books store.

Telling myself that didn't help.

It took me like a minute before I finally got myself together and went over to the counter and ordered a coffee.

While I was waiting for it Dave came out of the bathroom and I thought, "Either he took a long fucking time in there or he walked in just before I came in."

I gotta admit, I was worried that Katie was going to walk out behind him and I'd be banned eternally from the store for puking all over the place.

He spotted me when he was almost to the table and smiled and waved me over. I pointed to the girl making my coffee and he nodded and sat down.

When I go over to the table he makes room for me to sit next to him and I sit and smile and say, "Hey."

I don't think I sounded as awkward as I felt. I hope I didn't..

One of them says, "So, this is Mindy."

"Dave talks about me?"

"All the time."

"I do not."

Dave actually sounded embarrassed when he said that. It made me smile for real.

"So how did you two start hanging out again?"

Dave pounces on this like a crack head on a hundred dollar bill; "My Dad finaly talked my into going to that grief counseling group, said I'd never mourned properly or some shit. Anyway, I met her and he adoptive father there. When he found out she'd be going to the same school as me he asked me to keep an eye out for her, and that maybe we could help each other."

"Oh. Huh. Well…I…"

"Sorry to hear about that, Mindy."

"It's okay, I'm tougher than I look."

Dave almost chokes from starting to laugh in the middle of taking a drink and coffee got all over the table. On his friends went to go get napkins and the other decided that would be a good time for a refill.

He tells me I need to stop making those inside jokes before I kill him and I remind him that he started it. I tell him that was a pretty slick cover story he came up with and he just says, "Yeah, well, I wasn't nearly as smooth when Katie asked and I wanted to make sure they all got the same story" while dabbing coffee off his shirt.

It's nice knowing he is doing his best to help me.

The rest of the afternoon wasn't particularly eventful. We just sat around talking comics. It was pretty fun really, and Todd and Marty seemed to really enjoy catching me up on the last decade or two of comics. It was fun for me seeing all the new books and art and stories, since the only comics I got to read were my dad's old collection and the ones he drew.

I need to talk Marcus into giving me an allowance.


	8. Chapter 8

Makos Message: Ugh. First chapter of this story I didn't write in one sitting. I am unhappy about this. That was not the plan. Still, it's mostly my fault for picking a bad time to try and start writing it in the first place. So yeah. I was going to start talking about Thanksgiving, but then I realized I totally skipped over Halloween and how could I over look THAT? So here it is. The longest chapter yet. Hope you enjoy. Be sure to let me know what you like, what you don't, and why. Thanks again.

* * *

Halloween.

I suppose it'd be perfectly acceptable for me to go out trick-or-treating, expected even. Marcus sure does.

I don't know though. Running around in a costume asking for candy? Wait, why did I have a problem with this? Hell, it might even let me dust off Hit Girl.

I didn't see Dave at school, but I did see Todd and Marty. They asked me if I was going to go with them ("them" including Dave) on new comic day. They almost acted like it was a holiday; New Comics Day.

I told them "Fuck yeah I'm coming."

First time I swore out loud in a few weeks. It was hard at first, but I did adjust. They were kinda shocked though. It was funny.

Anyway they said the new comics came in Wednesday, so I had time to talk Marcus into giving me some cash. Really gotta work on the allowance thing. I was about to leave before I thought to ask them about Halloween.

They said they hadn't dressed up in a few years, mostly because highschool kids, at least highschool boys, tended to get their asses kicked for dressing up, but with all the adults dressing up as superheroes on a daily basis they might like to come up with something for themselves.

I'm definitely going to have to talk to Dave about this.

Marcus seems to be ignoring the relationship between comic books and costumed vigilantes, because he seemed all too happy to give me ten bucks and drive me to Atomic Comics.

I was really excited about this. I had a lot of fun there with everyone and that first, awkward feeling faded as soon as I sat down with them. But today. Today pissed me off. As soon as I walked in I could see Dave sitting in a booth with Katie on his lap. Oh something about that girl just makes me want to punch her in the face. Repeatedly.

He spotted me pretty quickly though and tried to make room for me, but I sat opposite him with Todd and Marty. Katie leaned over immediately and said, "Mindy, I'm sorry to hear about y our father. If you ever need to talk about anything you can come to me."

Is it possible for someone to be that sweet without being full of shit?

I told her, "Thanks, but that's what the grief support group is for" and I decided to add, because I couldn't slap her and (for some reason I can't remember now) thought it would be the next best thing, "And Dave listens to me plenty."

She seemed kinda shocked at that and turned to look at Dave who just sorta smiled like the big dope that he is, gave him this big smile and then kissed him.

Hate. Hate. Hate. Hate. Hate. Hate. HATE.

I spent the rest of the day there with Todd and Marty who helped me pick out a couple comics to follow, since I couldn't buy a lot. Dave tried to get up a couple times, but Katie wouldn't get off his lap, said something about not getting enough time to talk with him for awhile.

Bitch.

Anyway, I picked up this book called Risky Chix since it was just starting and there was nothing to catch up on and I liked the art and Ultimate Spider-Man because...eh. It's Spiderman and it's less confusing than Amaznig/Spectacular/the other fuck ton of other Spiderman books line.

So by the end of the trip I didn't get to talk to Dave because Katie was clingier than saran wrap. She even dragged him off before I we could say good bye.

Well, it's not like I can blame the dork for wanting to get laid.

Ugh.

He texted me to apologize for not getting to spend any time with me. I asked him if I could call him and I finally got to talk to him about doing something for Halloween. I wanted to know if he'd like to go with me as Kick-Ass and Hit Girl. He didn't think it was a good idea though. He thought it would be too risky to essentially go out as "ourselves". He did say he'd help me come up with something else though.

Dave texted me back later with an idea and I don't know what to think of it. He said we should swap. He wants me to go as Kick-Ass and he'll go as Hit Girl. Hit Guy? I don't know. It seems kinda weird. But he said "gender swap" was pretty common in comics and fandom so… maybe. I'll have to think about it.

The next day I said damn the girlfriend, full speed ahead! (I don't know what that's from, it's something Marcus says sometimes. Maybe I'll ask him about later.) I walked up to the table Dave and Katie were sitting at and sat down, asking Dave about the costume idea. Katie seemed less annoyed than surprised that Dave was talking to me about going trick-or-treating. Good. So I asked him about this gender swap idea of his, and got a confused look from Katie.

Basically he said he'd make a male version of the Hit Girl costume, basically just changing the hair and ditching the skirt. It would probably be pretty easy to find a Kick-Ass costume that would fit me. There was a bunch of merchandise based on Kick-Ass and I bet there are costumes for sale. I guess if I want to be Girl Kick-Ass I'd just have to let my hair show.

Todd and Marty came by and asked what we were talking about. Katie told them we were talking about making me a Kick-Ass costume Dave a guy version of Hit Girls.

Todd asked who Hit Girl was and Katie said she was the one who saved kick ass at the warehouse.

"'Shows over' girl?"

"Yeah."

"How'd you find out her name?"

Katie flushed, Dave just started opening and closing his mouth like a fish, and I kept thinking, "shit shit shit" Honestly, it probably wouldn't have been as bad as we thought. So, Katie knew Dave was Kick-Ass, but didn't know I was Hit girl. Todd and Marty didn't know who either of us was. Dave suddenly saved the day.

"Uh, she has H and G on her belt, so, I just came up with something from that."

It's my identity to protect, so you'd think I'd be better at it. But before, Daddy helped cover my tracks and his plan was basically to kill anyone who found out who we were. I need to work on these cover stories more. At least Dave has.

"Hey, didn't Kick-Ass and Red Mist team up for a bit?"

"Yeah, they did! Katie, you should go as 'Red Miss' it'd be-"

"NO!"

All three of us yelled that. I guess Katie isn't ALL bad.

* * *

Makos second Message: Oh. If anybody could tell me who it was that said they would save themselves for Hit Girl, it'd be appreciated.


	9. Chapter 9

Mako's Message: I really wrote myself into a corner with this one. I'm not even joking. I got to where this ends and said, "*&%^$". Yes. What I said was worse than what I've already used in this fic. What happened was that I couldn't figure out how to move to future events without breaking the narrative style or ending the chapter. After staring at my computer screen for awhile, swearing to myself, letting it sit, coming back and swearing some more, I decided to just end the chapter. This unfortunately means this is the shortest chapter yet when I had intended this chapter to be at least 1,000 words. Hell, I intended this chapter to cover Halloween itself. Now Halloween night isn't going to be for at least two more chapters.

Also, I want to thank all my readers for giving me the name of Mindy's secret admirer, as well as for the reviews for the last chapter. They were easily the best and most rewarding of all the chapters.

* * *

Well, Katie is looking at me weird.

I guess that makes sense, since it's the same way Marty and Todd are looking at the three of us after our group rejection of Katie dressing as "Red Miss"

The costume thing is going well though. When we went to Safehouse C for burgers and gun maintenance I pulled out one of the spare Hit Girl wigs and had Dave try it on. It still looked like girl hair though so I trimmed it. It's not great (actually it looks kind of emo) but it does look like boy hair now. My cape is a little too short for him, but it shouldn't be too hard to find one for him in a costume store, after all, it doesn't have to be functional like mine is. A motorcycle jumpsuit thing should do for the rest.

My costume isn't going so well, surprisingly. It's not that they aren't selling things we could use for a Kick-Ass costume. It's actually that they are. Since Kick-Ass is unlicensed, there have to be four or five companies producing merchandise, unfortunately most of it is crap. Okay sure, that Kick-Ass comic that came out a few months ago was pretty good, even if they did make Kick-Ass's origin some sort of mix of Batman's and Spider-man's

Most of the other stuff is junk though. All the costumes in my size are flimsy and terrible looking. Well, there was one costume that wasn't a piece of crap, but it was one of those costumes with the ridiculous fake muscles and I'm supposed to be a Girl Kick-Ass. Kick-Ass Girl?

Dave suggested we just try and find the same style of wetsuit he bought just in my size.

There was a full minute of silence after he said that as we both realized what idiots we'd been, running around looking for a cash-in costume when we could just do the same thing he did in the first place.

It took us awhile, but the purchase has been made, and should be arriving shortly before Halloween. Hopefully it fits.

Oh, Katie seems to have taken to the idea of dressing up as a superhero apparently. She wont tell Dave who she's dressing up as though and it's driving him nuts.


	10. Chapter 10

Mako's Message: . . . I spend way to much time on the internet. I had to keep reminding myself that emoticons are not punctuation and do not belong in stories. I'm going to make a conscious effort to cut back on them.

Anyway, here is the rest of what I wanted to go into the last chapter but couldn't figure out a way to segue into. If you combine the two, I think it would be my longest chapter, but that doesn't really say much. As always, let me know what you like, what you don't, and why.

* * *

I was invited to a party.

I'm trying to think of something else to say about this but I'm still trying to get over the fact that I was invited to a party.

Okay, how about this, I'll talk about how it happened.

So I'm sitting at a table during lunch reading my new issue of Risky Chix and generally ignoring the world when a girl sits next to me and asks, "Mindy Macready?"

I look up and say, "Yes."

And she goes, "Oh good. You never talk to anyone so I was worried I'd get your name wrong."

She just sort of stopped talking there so I said, "So…did you want something? Or did you just want know my name.

"Oh no! I wanted to invite you my Halloween slash Birthday party."

"'Halloween slash Birthday'?"

"Yeah. I was born on Halloween so I have this great excuse to throw twice the party," She handed me an invitation with the time, address, my name, and a note to show the invitation at the door.

I guess she must be pretty popular or something if she's worried about people crashing her party. That's the point when I realize I have no idea who this girl is. I don't feel like making a thing of this, since that would be rude and she did just invite me to a party and, well yeah, yeah. There was just no need for it. She says, "See you there." And starts to walk away then stops and turns back, "Hey, did you really hospitalize a couple of bullies who tried to steal your lunch money when you started?"

I tell her that I did, but mostly because they fell (I threw them) down the steps.

She smiles and says, "That is so awesome" then walks away and adds, "Say 'Hi' to Katie for me!"

The whole thing kind of left me in shock honestly, and I'm still not quite over it.

Now that I think about it, the last thing she said was kind of weird; "say hi to Katie"? Dave's girlfriend Katie? Why would I say hi to her for-

Oh.

Okay, I have this sort of weird theory that I'm gonna try and work out as I go.

Katie is one of, if not the, most popular girls at that school. Dave was…is a dork and used to get picked on a lot. Now he's dating Katie, and he no longer gets picked on. . . Now that I think about it, other people talk to him now too. Well, not talk to him, but say hi to him. Dave gained coolness points for dating Katie. I hang out with Dave, and thereby Katie… so I get cool points too? And now that I think about it, I was never treated like "the new kid" well, not after the first day. And she asked if I really beat those guys up…so people were obviously talking about it…and she said it was awesome. So, maybe I was not the weird new kid nobody talked to, but the lone wolf people that intimidated people… Ha. That's funny. Here I was feeling like the loser new kid who didn't know anyone, and everybody else was looking at me like the bad-ass lone wolf.

So, if all this time I've been cool and didn't know it, does that make Dave cooler too for being friends with the bad ass middle schooler? Hmm… he probably breaks even for hanging out with a middle schooler in the first place.

If only they knew it was his face under that mask on all those t-shirts.

Oh wait, this just keeps getting better. Dave's friend Marty is dating one of Katie's friends, who is also popular, so he gets cool points for that, and for hanging out with Katie. So, Dave is dating the most popular girl in school, friends with someone dating another really popular girl, and the first person to "tame" the lone wolf who kicked the asses of two guys twice her size on her first day. Dave may not be doing much on his own be popular, but he's turning into some sort of nexus of cool.

Actually, I bet he's gaining cool points just for somehow managing to make all this cool surround him. I just see people wondering what's so great about Dave that cool people are starting to surround him. We're starting our own little social circle clique thing! This is so awesome!

And now I'm ashamed of myself for saying that.

Well, I guess it's a good thing I killed that buzz because I almost forgot to mention something.

My costume came!

I just tried it on and it fits perfectly, which is a big relief because it's way too late to exchange. I'm not sure what to do with my hair though. I think the plan was to let my hair hang out so it'd be obvious I was a girl, but doing that makes the mask sit all wrong and fall forward. I was thinking about cutting it, but we'll have to be careful how we do that or we could damage the elastic and it wont stay on at all.

I noticed something else though when I was looking at myself in the mirror. I guess I didn't really notice because I don't usually wear clothes that are so form fitting, but my hips are getting wider. It's making the suit tighter there than anywhere else. I wonder if Dave will notice?


	11. Chapter 11

Mako's Message: New chapter. Yay. It's a decent length this time at least.

I keep running into this problem we're I'm trying to decide whether I should be using proper grammar as this isn't a third person story and we're actually inside Mindy's head. So wouldn't everything technically be her dialogue and therefore in her voice? What I mean is, if you can't get passed the answer "you should always use proper grammar", I'll write something and then go, "Would Mindy say it like that? Would she use that word?" and I go crazy for a minute before saying "fuck it" and writing the next thing that comes to mind.

Anyway, more stuff got between me and writing Halloween night, but I think it works. I hope you all enjoyed it. Oh, there are some purposefully chosen phrases in there… so, if you notice anything that seems to stick out a little, remember it. It might turn out to be relevant later.

And once again, please be sure to let me know what you think. Good things, bad things, whatever you thought, it's all important to me.

* * *

He noticed.

Well, sort of. When I was showing him the costume he asked if I was sure it fit alright because it looked a little tight around the hips. I thought I'd be embarrassed about it, but I was actually more annoyed that he was being so casual about the damn thing. I mean, here I am, standing in front of him in this suit that's so tight it didn't ride up my ass it started there and he's just standing there looking at me like we're shopping for some fucking shoes. He didn't even look like the idea of being embarrassed about it crossed his mind.

The jerk.

Anyway, I showed him the problem I had with the mask. He looked it over and asked me to pull it onto my head as far as it would go and while he was doing this he started feeling up the back of my head, which was weird. Finaly he asked for my hand and put it on the back of my head where he'd had his and told me to told it there while he grabbed a marker. He then drew a line on the back of mask and asked if we had a sewing kit.

For some reason the first thing that came to mind then was "Dave knows how to sew?" Is that weird?

Anyway, I told him I thought we did and went to check the laundry room. When I came back Dave was sitting on my bed cutting into my mask with a pair of scissors. When he finished I handed him the small basket full of loose needles and thread and he started sewing it up.

I couldn't stop watching him for some reason. His hands moved so smoothly and without hesitation. It was kind of amazing. I mean, who'd have thought that Dave could sew, let alone be good at it?

I know it sounds stupid, but I guess the real reason it was so hypnotizing is that the last time I tried to sew I stabbed myself four times.

Well, I can still have him eating carpet and crying for mercy in about five seconds so I guess it balances out.

In the middle of tying off the first thread he suddenly me asked if I'm going to the party.

"How did you know about the party?"

He just shrugged as he threaded another needle, "I overheard some girls talking about how you were invited."

I have to admit I was surprised by that. Not as surprised as I was to get invited in the first place, but still surprised. "What were they saying?"

Dave smirked at me, "I didn't think you'd care."

"I don't _care_. I'm just curious."

"Well, one of them thought you were awesome for beating the crap out of those two and wanted to make friends. Another thought you were a violent freak and didn't want anything to do with you. And the others just thought you were a mystery and didn't know what to think about you coming to the party"

Well, that almost shoots my idea that I'm cool out of the sky. Which kinda sucks because I walked in there thinking I was gonna be awesome. I kicked those two punks asses and thought, "Hell yeah! Big dog coming through!" And then people just started staring at me, and avoiding me, and I had no idea what to talk to these people about. I don't like Justin "why won't my balls drop" Bieber and I can't stand Twilight (If I caught some guy breaking into my house and watching me sleep they'd get a knife in the nuts). I like comics but that's not a point in my favor, and unless there's a John Woo fanclub at the school I wasn't aware of that doesn't really help me either. I just felt like a complete outsider, not that I mind really, seeing as most of the girls are vapid idiots and the boys are immature, pricks, or immature pricks.

I guess that's part of why I like being with Dave so much. We can talk about pretty much anything, and even if he doesn't know what I'm talking about he's still interested in hearing what I have to say.

Anyway, I guess I zoned out thinking about all that stuff because the next thing I remember is Dave yelling my name.

I apologized for going brain dead on him and he said it was alright and showed me the finished mask. He'd cut a slit in back at about the top of my neck and then sewed the edges of it up to stop it from getting tattered and he told me to try it on so he could see if it fit properly now.

That's when Marcus came in.

Dave is standing behind me, helping with my hair, I'm standing there in a form fitting wetsuit, and Marcus has this expression that says, "I have no idea what the fuck I'm looking at but I'm pretty sure I should be pissed about it."

There's a moment of silence before Dave says, "It's just a Halloween costume I swear."

Marcus says, "That'd better be all it is," and shuts the door.

After he's gone the room is totally silent and Dave is still frozen. He hadn't even taken his hands out of my hair.

I started laughing. I couldn't help it. It was so ridiculous.

"And just what is so funny?" Dave asked.

I managed to stop laughing long enough to say, "If we were normal kids, this would have been perfectly fine, but because it was us he acted like he walked in on us snorting coke."

Now Dave was laughing with me.

I flopped down on my bed and pulled off the mask(which fit perfectly now) and said, "That thing is pretty hot."

Dave lay down next to me and said, "Yeah, but you get used to it," he paused for a second and added, "Not that you'll be wearing it for more than one night."

We just lay there in silence for a few minutes, staring at the ceiling, before he asked, "So, are you gonna go?"

I let it sit for another minute before saying, "Yeah. I think I will."


	12. Chapter 12

Mako's Message: 3,366. That's the word count for this chapter. That's three times the length of chapter eight, my, now, second longest chapter. Holy. Shit. I knew this one was going to be long, but I really didn't think it'd reach this proportion. Hell, the fight scene is about as long as my shorter chapters.

Oh yeah, -SPOILER- there's a fight scene.

Anyway, sorry about the long wait. (Haha. I called a week "long". That's funny.) It's been a rough week so I hope this triple length chapter makes up for it.

Also, you've all been great. I really mean that. I've never gotten such helpful or encouraging reviews before in my life. Hell, a couple of the reviews actually made me start worrying that I'd let you down if I didn't make it perfect. That said, I don't think this chapter is perfect. There are spots that I think _could_ be better, I just don't know how and that disappoints me.

But that's where you come in. Let me know what you liked, what you didn't, what you think could improve the story. Especially the fight scene and the end. Thanks again and enjoy the chapter.

Oh. There is an intentional typo in there, "What's you" so no need to point that one out.

* * *

Okay. Lot's of stuff happened. So, let' just go in order.

The day after Dave helped me put the finishing touches on my costume I went to talk to the girl who invited me. Angela. Thank god it was on the invitation because the last thing I needed was to look stupid trying to find out her name.

Anyway, I wanted to find out a little more about the party. Specifically, if it was a Halloween party, would we be wearing costumes at any point? The answer was, yes, we would. Apparently it was just going to be a normal birthday party(not that that helps me know what to expect)during the day and then that night we'd be going trick or treating. So cake, costumes, and candy. Should be fun.

Todd and Marty were disappointed to hear that I wouldn't be going with them on Halloween, especially Todd. I guess they felt like going out was loosing it's appeal if we weren't going as a group. Don't know why though, aren't Dave and Katie going as well?

Anyway, Marcus practically crapped a rainbow when I told him I was going to a birthday party. He started asking me if I wanted to go shopping for new clothes. I told him, "Hell no" as politely as I could before going up to my room.

I'll confess that after sitting up there for a few minutes I started going through my clothes, looking for something to wear. Marcus was so happy to hear about this, and I did need to try and create a new life for myself. I couldn't dwell on a past story that was over. So I wanted to make a good impression.

I started to feel stupid about it soon after I started though. I mean, they invited me without me trying to impress them. Why should I start now? Still, I wanted to pick something I'd feel comfortable in. No need to walk into her house feeling like a tool. I needed something that said, "This is me. Don't like? Fuck off."

It took a couple hours for me to finally bite the bullet and go down to Marcus and say, "Alright. Let's go to the mall."

Turns out it was actually kinda fun. Not the actual shopping, but just going out. We bought giant pretzels and smoothies, got some passable Chinese afterwards, and while we shopped we talked about how school was going and what friends I was making (he wasn't happy that my circle of friends was pretty much Dave's circle of friends).

I even talked him into buying some action movies for our weekly movie night. I can't wait to see The Expendables. I don't care if it's good or bad. It's going to be BAD-ASS!

It did remind me that he is trying to stamp out Hit Girl though. Trying to make me into just another junior-highschool girl. But I'm not just another school girl. I AM Hit Girl. For better or worse that's what Daddy made me and I can't just be UNMADE.

It's part of why I like Dave so much. He accepts me for who I am. Completely and without reservation.

I ended up picking out these form-fit jeans with Hello Kitty on my ass, a t-shirt with some anime chick cutting a dude in half with a katana(Marcus wasn't happy about that one, but he can blow me if he thought I was passing that one up), and a black hoodie with a skull wearing a pink bow on it to go over it.

Dave was glad I'd still be going trick-or-treating after all the work we put into the costume, and he said he was still going out, not wanting to let his costume go to waste either, even if it was just for him and Katie.

Ew.

So the day came and I went over with the gift card we got her since I really had no fucking clue as to what she likes.

She opened the door and she actually seemed excited to see me. I really have no idea why, but okay. When I saw the other girls I finally realized why I had no clue who Angela was. They were all eighth graders. Every single one of these girls was a year ahead of me.

Was this good? Bad? I had no idea. I just knew that all of these girls were older than me, most were taller than me, and I was the flattest chest in the room. Why did I notice this? I really have no fucking idea. If I had to guess it's that for the first time in my life, when I was trying to be equals with someone, I felt like a child.

I got over that though, as they didn't treat me like they thought they were better than me because they were older, and I could tell I was more mature than most of them in other ways.

We spent the first hour or two sprawling across the living room couches and chairs listening to music and talking. I didn't have much to say since it was mostly about boys and television shows I didn't watch. When the time came for a CD switch, one of the girls got up and started looking through the pile on the floor and asked, "Hey, how about some Justin Bieber?"

I grunted, rolled over and said, "I'll listen to Bieber when his balls drop."

There was absolute silence for five seconds. Exactly. I counted. And for those five seconds I thought I'd fucked up and they were going to turn into a lynch mob.

Then they started laughing.

The birthday girl stopped laughing long enough to point at the CD and say, "You heard her. No more of him until he pubatizes."

The girl holding the CD saluted, said, "Yes ma'am" and threw it away like a Frisbee.

And that was how I suddenly fit into the group; vulgarily mocking things for their amusement.

Hey, it could be worse, and it'll be fun coming up with creative ways to tear things apart. I'm sure that even if they like what I'm riffing on I can make it funny enough that they won't care enough to get butthurt over it. And if they do they can go suck a cock, after all, it's all in fun.

We had pizza soon after that and we started watching movies. The first one was a romcom. It was okay, I laughed a few times, but not nearly as much as everybody else. When it was over Angela went over to pick another one. I looked at the DVD rack from the couch to see if there was anything I'd like to see and spotted one almost immediately, "Can we watch The Matrix?"

She stopped and looked at for a second, "That's my brothers."

"So?"

She seemed to think about it for a second before saying, "Your right. Anybody else for it?"

Two of the other five girls raised their hands and Angela said, "four to three, the motion passes."

When we get to the corridor scene, which is my favorite part(I just love the sight of Keanu strapped to the gills with firepower), one of the girls said, "I wish I could move like that. Imagine being able to take down a whole troop of guards all by yourself like that."

"Yeah," I said, trying to keep the smirk off my face as I popped some popcorn my mouth, "Must be awesome."

"Oh hey!" Angela said, "Check it out. I can do a cartwheel" and she did. A wobbly cartwheel, but it was still a cartwheel.

"I can do a split," one of the other girls said and _almost_ did a split. She came close, but she just couldn't get her legs straight.

"You call that a split?" I said and put the popcorn bowl I'd been hoarding(I like popcorn. What of it?) next to the arm chair I was sitting in, put my hands on the cushion between my thighs pushed down and swung my legs out and suspended myself between the arms of the chair. I put my hands up, palms together, in front of my chest to mass applause.

"How did you do that?" one of them asked.

I figured the answer was safe enough, "I've been training since I was five."

"Wow. Really?"

"Are you going to try out for cheer squad next year?"

"Fuck no."

"If she's been training since five it's probably for something bigger than cheerleading you derp. Are you trying for the Olympics?"

"No."

"Then for what?"

It took me a second to answer as I thought about just why I'd been training. I shrugged and said, "Just because."

When the movie ended it was time for us to change into our costumes and head out. While I was changing my phone dropped out my pocket and I saw a text I'd missed from Dave: "Hey. Are you still going out tonight? Maybe we could join up."

I was shocked, but I couldn't help but feel happy that Dave was willing to give up alone time with Katie.

I knew I didn't really have a right to ask, but I decided to go see if Angela minded Dave joining us. When I walked in to the bathroom where she was putting on her make-up, the first thing I asked was "What the fuck are you?"

Not to Angela, she was a pretty cool looking gothic fairy sorta thing. I was talking to her friend.

"What?" she said

"You look like a whore," I said.

Her face fell as she said, "I'm Snooki."

One of the girls across the hall yelled over, "So she's right then?"

Angela had fallen against the wall laughing, "Oh man. I like you more and more all the time Mindy," she said.

"I know! And she's always so straight when she says it!" the same girl called from the other room.

"Yeah, you did good inviting her!" another called.

"Snooki" didn't seem as amused though, "And what are you supposed to be? Gumby?"

I unrolled the mask I had in my hand, ducked my head down, pulled it on, pulled my hair through and looked up saying, "I'm Kick-Ass!"

"What? Lemme see!" the girl called and came hopping out of the room, trying to get a shoe on.

"Wow. That's a really nice costume!"

"Yeah, it looks just like the real thing."

"Where did you get it?"

"I ordered it online."

"Wow. It must have been expensive."

"Not really." It wasn't. Well, not compared to a jetpack.

So I finally got to ask Angela and she just asked if he was bringing anyone else. I asked him and he said Katie(Damnit), Marty, and Todd.

I don't know if she cared either way about the rest of them, but her eyes lit up at Katies name.

So I told Dave to come on over and he said he'd be there in a few minutes.

We ended up not waiting for them because it took that long for everyone else to get ready.

Dave looked really good in his costume. He also looked really comfortable in it. I guess he would. Katie was with him, and she was dressed as a girl version of The Gaurdian. It wasn't that creative though. It looked like she just bought the same sort of motorcycle jumpsuit he wears and cut the middle out of it.

I introduced Dave and Katie and we headed off. Dave held me back though, pressing something hard into my hip, "Something to add a little authenticity to your costume, "He whispered into my ear. I reached down and grabbed was he was pressing against me; his batons.

I took them and was surprised by their heft. I'd always thought they were just sawed off broom handles or something but they were really solid and heavy. These things could really fuck somebody up.

"Now you're costume is complete" he said and turned to catch up with Katie.

I said thanks as he ran off. I don't think he heard me. I'm not gonna ask if he did.

After a couple blocks I finally decided to ask Dave were Todd and Marty were. He said that we'd be meeting up with them later.

Dave hung back on the sidewalk with Katie while we went up to the houses. Each time I came back he'd ask what we got and if he thought it was a good haul he'd go knock on the door himself.

While he and Katie where up at a house that was giving out king size candy bars instead of those pussy little "fun" size ones, these two dick-heads came up to us. I don't know how old they were, I just know they were taller than any of us and they were asking about our candy. One took Snooki's bag, and shoved her to the ground when she tried to take it back and the other guy grabbed another of our bags.

Stealing candy? Really? I couldn't believe I was seeing this. It was just too pathetic. People really did this? It didn't matter, I grabbed the batons and was about to see how good they worked as nut crackers when I felt a hand squeeze my shoulder.

I looked up expecting a third douche-bag but it was Dave. He looked at me and gave a barely noticeable shake of his head. He squeezed my shoulder again and stepped forward, "Hey, come on guys. Leave the kids alone. Give them back their candy."

"What's you say faggot?"

I sorta edged around so I could see things better if Dave needed my help as he said, "I said give the kids their candy back. It's Halloween, all these houses are giving it away for free. Go get your own."

"And what are you going to do if we decided not to, huh? Faggot?"

Dave's eyes changed then. They suddenly hardened, like a switch had been flipped, he said, "Then I'll kick your ass."

The one on Dave's left threw a punch at him and Dave's arm came up and brushed it aside while his right came up and punched the guy clean in the face in one fluid motion.

The guy stumbled back as his hand went up to his face and yelled, "AH! FUCKER!"

The guy on Dave's right tried to kick him in the knee then but Dave hoped back and the kick missed by a mile. The first guy came back swinging one of the candy bags at him. Dave blocked but it didn't do much good as it wrapped around his arm and hit him in the face anyway. It didn't even look like it hurt, but it did make him flinch back. It was enough for the second guy to punch Dave in the side of the head. Dave stumbled towards the first guy who tried to knee him in the stomach. Dave caught his leg though. He used his left arm to push the guy's leg left, while swinging his right arm up and catching the guy in the throat with his forearm knocking him to the ground. Dave spun while bringing up a block, but he wasn't fast enough and caught another fist to the face. He wasn't fazed though and threw one right back. He hit the guy, but at the same time the one on the ground kicked him in his knee so the punch glanced off and did jack shit. The guy hammered Dave in the face again sending him to the ground. He tried to stomp on Dave's face but he rolled to the side letting the stomp come down just past his shoulder and Dave punch the guy in nuts. The guy started to collapse, and almost fell face first into Dave, but Dave caught him by the head and punched him in the face before shoving him off to the side and quickly getting up. The other guy was on his feet and coming at Dave before he was even on his feet and kicked him in the head. Dave saw it coming and tried to roll with it. I don't know how well it worked but I don't think it was very well. Dave hit the ground and managed to get up pretty quickly but not quickly enough to avoid a punch to the gut. Dave woofed as the wind got knocked out of him, but he didn't even try to get it back before hitting the guy with a rising uppercut, a couple of jabs to the face, and then a front kick to the chest.

The guy who'd had his balls busted managed to pick himself up and run off, the coward. The second guy took the hint and crawled to his feet holding his stomach and limped off as well.

Dave was bleeding from his mouth and his temple. He was breathing heavily, but steadily. And I looked into his eyes as he watched the two run away…and, as stupid as this sounds, there was a fire in his eyes. I'd seen it twice before, but tonight, it sent shivers down my spine.

I went over and touched Dave's shoulder, "You okay?"

"Yeah. Eighty percent sensitivity, remember?"

"Dave?" That was Katie, she looked like she was in both shock _and_ awe.

"I'm okay. I've taken worse beatings."

He must be okay if he can make jokes.

And that must have broken the spell that had been holding Angela, Snooki, and the rest of them still, because one threw both her fists into the air, yelling, "That was FUCKING awesome!" And they all rushed forward to thank him.

I heard running feet getting closer and turned to see Todd and Marty. They were winded as hell and they were wearing a pair of superhero costumes that were just kind of sad looking. "What happened?" they asked.

"Dave kicked two candy thieves asses."

"No way."

"Yeah. He was pretty awesome."

"Mindy. Hey, Mindy!" Dave yelled over, "Katie and I are heading home early. Do you want a ride?"

I didn't know what to say, but Angela told me I should go, and if she didn't mind me leaving early to be with Dave than I sure as shit wasn't going to stay.

"What about you two?"

"Oh. Yeah. Might as well." Marty said.

So the five of us headed back to Dave's car, Dave kind of limping a bit but not too much. Dave let Katie drive and he sort of slumped into the passenger seat and pulled off his wig and mask.

Todd offered to let me in first, but I passed. I wanted to be last in so I could sit behind Dave and talk him into coming into the house to get cleaned up. He of course didn't want to freak out Marcus, but I convinced him it was better to freak out Marcus than his Dad.

When we got there Dave asked Katie to take Marty and Todd home, adding that his dad said he didn't need the car tomorrow so he'd come get it from her house tomorrow.

She agreed, gave him a goodbye kiss that was a lot longer than necessary, and we got out of the car. Before she drove off, Todd stuck his head out the window and said, "Hey Mindy! Your costume is sweet."

All I could think of to say was, "uh. Thanks" and walk away.

The first thing Marcus said when he saw Dave was, "Please tell me that's part of the costume."

I sat and watched as Marcus cleaned the cuts on Dave's head. I know he has fucked up nerves, but it still surprised me that he didn't flinch at all, to any of it. After Marcus finished up, Dave asked if it would be alright for him to take a shower.

He said sure and that he'd find him some old clothes to lend him.

While Dave was showering I went up to my room to wait for him. I wanted to talk to him about some things.


	13. Chapter 13

Mako's Message: So. Another chapter. Not as soon as I wanted it be, but at least it wasn't another week. And I don't care what the date says, I got this up on Tuesday. Suck it technicalities!

Hmm… I don't know what else to say here, so I'll just thank all who reviewed the last chapter, as reviews always lift my spirits, encourage me, and help me improve the story.

* * *

It wasn't a quick shower, but I wasn't waiting long either. After the water stopped running it was only about a minute before he came down the hall in the middle of buttoning up his shirt. I called out to him as he was about to walk by my room.

"Oh, hey," he said, leaning against the door frame, "So how was the party?"

"I don't want to talk about the party." He looked confused so I elaborated for him, "What the fuck was that about?"

"What was what about?"

"You stopping me and fighting them yourself you dickhead."

"Oh, that," he said and walked into my room, closing the door, "I wanted to protect you."

I had no idea what to say to that. I had no idea how I _felt_ about that. Part of me was pissed the fuck off that he of all people thought I needed to be protected and wanted to hit him. The other part of me… the other part of me wanted to touch his face. What the fuck is that? Touch his face? Where the hell does that come from? What kind of emotion IS that? Why would I do that? And I guess I spaced out again because the confusion, because the next thing I knew Dave was saying my name.

"What? Why the fuck would you think I needed to be protected? I could have taken both of them without any problem."

"How would you have explained that? To those girls? To Katie? She knows I'm Kick-Ass and she's not stupid. It wouldn't be hard for her to figure out who you are if she saw you fight. And what would Marcus do if he heard about it? If one of them got lucky and did this to you," he pointed to the bruise starting to form beside his eye. "You have a chance at a normal life now. One that isn't full of blood and gunfire. You're a great girl Mindy. You lost your mother, you lost your childhood, you lost your father, but you got your revenge. The man responsible for that is dead and you deserve a chance at peace. I'm not gonna see you lose that over a couple of fucking douche-bag candy thieves."

I wanted to kiss him.

I wanted to run over, leap onto him, wrap my arms around him and kiss him again and again and again.

I didn't though.

I just sat on my bed and stared at him and before I knew it I was crying. He ran over and put his arms around me. My hands clenched into fists around his shirt and I was ready to tell him to let me go when he whispered, "It's okay. It's okay to cry."

When he started talking, I was pissed off, but then when he said the next part… I knew he understood. I didn't know why I was crying, but I did know I was mad at myself for crying, and he knew that I was more upset about crying than about whatever it was that made me cry.

I pressed my head into his chest and wrapped my arms around him and squeezed. We sat like that for a moment as I got ahold of myself and when the tears stopped I punched him in the kidney.

"Ow" he groaned, letting go of me and falling back onto my bed.

I just smirked at him and told him to stop being such a pansy.

He just lay there for a moment with his shirt half open, and ya know, he looks like a skinny little dude, but he does have some nice muscle definition on him.

"You did good though," I said finally, "your technique was really rough but you had some good moves."

"Really?" he said, sitting up some.

"Yeah."

"Heh. Thanks," he said, smiling at me. Then he suddenly pulled his feet up and turned around on the bed to assume an exaggerated version of what he calls his "gay best friend pose" that he'd perfected during the months he'd been hanging out with Katie before they started dating,(I still can't believe he pulled that off without getting his ass beaten into the ground. I mean, shit, he rubbed lotion on her while she was TOPLESS for christ's sake.) and asked, "So, how was the party?"

I couldn't help but laugh.

He patted the couch and said, "Spill."

So I did.

We talked until Marcus came in and told us that Dave either needed to go home to go sleep on the couch. Dave opted for the couch.

Marcus closed the door after Dave left and told me to get to sleep. I was tempted to argue just on principle, but I was oddly tired, so I just pulled off the Kick-Ass suit and crawled into bed.


	14. Chapter 14

Mako's Message: So here we are. Another chapter. I drifted far, far away from my goal of updating daily but I'm getting at least one up a week. Compared to my last multi-chapter endeavors rate of one every …year, I call this an Epic Win.

Anyway, I have news. Since I've gotten such amazing feedback from all of you, I've decided to reward my faithful readers and reviews with a bonus chapter. Once I reach chapter twenty, everyone who has reviewed at least half of my chapters will be mailed the bonus chapter.

Hmm. I guess that's all there is to say for this chapter. Enjoy!

* * *

If I was a cat I'd be purring.

I've just felt so good these last few days that there's no other way to describe it. Dave came over to me during lunch the first day of class after Halloween, punched me in the shoulder, said "you're it" and we've been chasing each other over the playground every day since. He couldn't catch me to save his life, but his balance has gotten a lot better and he can at least follow me without slipping or getting caught on things. Some of the kids from my grade have started trying to free run with us and there are even some high school kids that watch us and look like they want to give it a try but are afraid to be seen "playing". It's kind of sad, really.

Angela came over and tried it once. She slipped trying to run up the arched ladder though. Luckily Dave was there to catch her or she would have broken her face open on one of the bars. We called it quits after that and I went with Angela while Dave went to go find Katie.

We sat down and started talking about teenage girl stuff. And by talking I mean she talked and I listened going, "Uh-huh," "Oh yeah?", and making snarky comments were I could. We've been doing this almost daily, and it's actually been pretty fun. Her friend Jessi, the one who agreed with me that Snooki was a whore has been hanging out with us most days too.

Speaking of Snooki they told me who she was a couple days later and I decided to look online for an episode of this show. Dear god. No wonder my classes are so easy for me. Years of handling guns, knives, martial arts training, hitting moving targets and not getting shot or stabbed yourself are obviously better for your brain than watching some douche-bags act like overgrown toddlers.

I really don't know anything about most of what they're taking about. I'm actually considering picking up a copy of Teen or something so I'll have some idea what they're talking about.

Today though Katie got her claws into Dave and took him off somewhere before we could hit our "obstacle course" and Angela is studying for a test so I don't really have anything to do during lunch today.

Oh, Dave is still getting better at gun cleaning. He can clean one in the time it takes me to clean two, which is a pretty nice improvement over his original one-to-five. We can actually clean all the guns at the safehouse in one trip now. We're still going weekly of course, we just take our time and bullshit with each other. It's a fun night out.

Last time though he talked about how he wanted to start looking for a job. It seems the money his mother had left for him was going to run out soon and he'd gotten used to having cash. If he needs cash though all he'd have to do is ask me. I've still got three million in a suitcase plus some more of Daddy's comics to sell if I ever need to.

If I'm careful with it, I should be set for life.

Marcus is ecstatic that I've got some "real" friends now. Though I'm kind of pissed off that he doesn't consider Dave a real friend. And what about Todd and Marty? Sure, I don't hang out with them like I do with Dave, but we do talk and joke around. Especially if Katie has Dave monopolized like she has a tendency to do.

Take the last time we were at Atomic Comics for example. I guess Katie wanted to try and…I don't know, BOND with me some more or some shit. So she came back from browsing the racks with Dave with a book for me.

Twilight: The Graphic Novel.*

It took everything I had to not laugh. Marty just looked at it with this horrified expression and Todd just looked confused.

I sort of poked at it as it while Katie talked about how much she enjoyed the books, and how much I like comics, so she thought if I read this we would have something to talk about together. Marty got up from our table and went looking through the store.

Todd leaned over and carefully opened it by the corner, looking like he was afraid it would bow up any second, "Is this for real?"

Katie got all in a huff and said, "Yes, it's real. Why wouldn't it be?"

Todd finally worked up the courage to open the thing, and it was all drawn in that super-pretty boy Japanese style were the only difference between the boys and the girls were the tits.

I shuddered and looked away.

Marty had stopped to say something to Dave that had him laughing silently before coming back and tossing another book on top of Twilight, saying, "Here, have a real vampire book."

30 Days of Night.

"Oh shit. This is a comic?"

"Hell yeah it's a comic!" Todd said, "This shit is AWESOME!"

Dave came back as Katie took the Twilight book back and started to get all sulky. "Don't worry about it hunny," he said, "It's just not her thing." He pulled her onto his lap, "I'll read it with you though if you want."

Katie started beaming to the point that you could practically see rainbows and flowers around her head before kissing and calling him the best boy friend ever.

I watched his expression slowly turn into one that looked like the face of a man who'd just gotten kicked in the nuts.

"How's the book?" I asked, smirking at him.

He looked up and said, "It's great!" in a pained voice.

Katie looked up at him and kissed him again before snuggling back into him and turning back to the book.

Poor, poor Dave, so sweet and brave. It always seems to get him in trouble.

* * *

Mako's Message Footnote: * THIS EXISTS! I made up NOTHING!


	15. Chapter 15

Mako's Message: In the last message, when I said I'd write a bonus chapter when I reached chapter 20 as a thank you for all the amazing reviews I'd been getting, I chose chapter 20 because I figured that would give more people a chance to meet the requirements.

That said, I take it as immense compliment that so many of you wanted that bonus chapter enough to back review older chapters. It was pretty amazing to see my inbox containing six reviews at a time.

Now, as for this chapter, we've reached a turning point. We're going to start to see more action, and more plot, from here on out. At least, I hope we will. Sometimes Mindy gets sidetracked and wants to talk about something interesting but unrelated to the grand plot of this story. And I'm sure as hell not going to try and shut her up. So, here we go!

Enjoy.

* * *

Today I did the scariest thing I've done since my first night as Hit Girl. I visited Angela's house. Alone. To meet her parents.

How could this possibly be scary? Haven't I already been there? Didn't you meet her parents then? To answer these questions you may be thinking, in no particular order; "Yes," "No," and "You don't get it do you?"

When I was at her house for her birthday, it was just us girls. I don't know if her parents were gone or if they were just making themselves scarce, but I didn't see them. Now I'm being invited over because she said they wanted to meet me.

Why?

Do they just want to know all of their daughter's friends by face? Did she say something about me to them that they don't like? Did they recognize my name as the girl that hospitalized those bullies and want to tell me to my face to stay away from their daughter?

Okay, it was the first one but the others were possibilities.

My real worry was that I'd out myself in some way. Well, not out myself as Hit Girl but just slip and make them suspicious of me. I mean, what if I can't keep my mouth in check and drop an F-bomb? Or worse, a C-Bomb? And I have this habit of playing with knives. Any time I get my hands on a knife, I can't seem to help twirling it between my fingers. I do that sort of things with brooms too, but that seems like it'd be easier to get away with than knife twirling.

Actually, looking back on it I'm not sure why I was freaking out so much. It's not like she was my best friend and I was afraid I'd be told I couldn't hang out with her anymore. I mean, I like hanging out with her, but if I couldn't anymore I'd just shrug my shoulders and see what Dave was up to.

I think I was actually afraid of disappointing Marcus. He's put a lot of effort into trying to make normal life fun and interesting, encouraging me to go out and do normal things, make normal friends, and I didn't want to botch this up.

Anyway, it actually went pretty well. I didn't swear, when I helped cook diner I restrained myself to flipping the knife only once, and in general they seemed to approve of me.

After dinner though, Angela took me up to her room because she wanted to show me something. When we got there she dove for her computer, "I've been waiting to show you this all day."

"What is it?," I asked sitting on the arm of her chair.

"It's a new super hero!"

Now, that got me interested.

The video she brought up started with a title card saying when and where this had been recorded before fading to black and white security footage of one of those check cashing places. A second later three guys in masks came running in and started waving guns around. Two of them started putting the few customers that were there on the ground while the teller was getting harassed. After about a minute of this, I break into a huge grin as the hero walks in.

It's Biker Knight.

I was really excited to see him. So many of the other people that started dressing up after Kick-Ass made it popular were just walking after-school specials that it was really cool to see one actually stopping a crime. But then there's no sign or word of him for almost two months. And now there's this video of him stopping am armed robbery. So awesome.

The robbers seemed unsure what to do for a second, then they all opened fire.

My stomach dropped through the floor as I watched Biker Knight get riddled with bullets. He fell back against the door and they kept shooting. I was praying he had kevlar on, but even if he did, with that shit storm of bullets, I was sure they would hit something vital anyway. Hell, I think I saw him get hit in the head a couple times. Finally they stopped, or ran out of ammunition, and started congratulating themselves and harassing the teller again.

"What the fuck was awesome about that!"

"Wait for it!" she said, excitedly biting her fingernails

I looked back at the screen and Biker Knight was getting back on his feet, unnoticed by the robbers. He reached behind his back and drew out what looked like two short swords.

The first robber to get it didn't even see it coming and dropped like a sack of shit from a blow to the head. The next one tried to shoot him, but ended up having his gun knocked aside and got slashed across the arm and face. I didn't see any blood though, so I guess the swords were blunted. Pity. The third guy tried to take a swing at him but Biker Knight ducked it, hit the guy in the ribs with his blunt swords making him double over and then hit the douche with a rising knee to the face. The guy came up off his feet and fell hard on his back. There was no sound but I could just imagine the crunch that must have made.

Biker Knight then rolled him over and put what looked like zip-cuffs on the guy before doing the same to the other two assholes.

"Awesome, huh?"

"Totally."

I can't wait to show Dave.


	16. Chapter 16

Mako's Message: Blargh. Yes, I'm still alive. Yes I'm ashamed at how long it took me to get this up. No I don't plan on making a habit of this. Why did it take me so long to get this up? I don't know. Shit happens.

So anyway, new chapter. Edging a little more towards… well, heh. I don't know if there's anything in here you could really call a plot. It's more "slice of life" than anything else, but yeah, stuff will happen . Asses will be kicked, blood will be shed. Don't worry.

As always, let me know what you like, what you think worked, what you hated, what you think failed, and the ever important WHY.

* * *

Dave's first reaction after watching the video was, "Holy shit."

"I know."

We watched the video a few times, pausing at different places to try and get a better idea of what happened. I was right, by the way, two of those shots hit him in the head. Dave cringed on that freeze frame; his head violently jerked back. He asked what the helmet was made of, but I couldn't tell him for sure. There were a few possibilities of course, but who's to say which it was.

After that we watched some of the related videos, mostly all of them other heroes caught on tape. None as awesome as Biker Knight's(mostly community service stuff, helping the homeless, stuff like that, though there was one were a guy chased a drug dealer out of a park.), but we did see the video of Dave's fight in the parking lot. I immediately went to click on it, but Dave stopped me.

"I really don't feel like watching me get my ass kicked. It was bad enough being there the first time."

I shrugged it off and sat back, "So what do you want to do with the rest of our night out?"

He looked around and said, "I dunno. I guess we could clean the guns again."

"I guess, but we finished way early. It feels like a waste to just start in on them again."

"Well right now I need to take a piss. I'll see if I can think of something by the time I'm done."

"Take your time then."

"I will."

So, I like watching Dave fight. Big surprise. I don't know what it is, but he just has this…tenacity. This fire burning, no raging, inside of him. It's intense, and when I can see it, it gives me chills. I saw it when we assaulted D'Amicos place, and you can see it in the video of him in the parking lot. When he's standing over that guy, refusing to back off even though he's out numbered. I think that's what's really what made those guys back off, not the cameras. They saw that whatever they threatened, they were going to have to go through him, and he'd make them regret it if they tried.

That's why I couldn't resist watching the video while he was in the bathroom.

I even watched the security camera footage of it, it's grainy, black and white, and has no sound, but it does have a great angle on it.

I went back to the famous one, the one from the cell phone with the Dave telling the world, "I'm Kick-Ass."

That was the part I really wanted to see, so since I'd watched the fights twice already, I just skipped ahead.

I paused it just as he was looking into the camera, beaten but victorious, and then, "The bruises lasted for weeks."

I nearly jumped out of my skin, I mean, when the hell had Dave taken a level in Ninja? That's my shtick

I thought I covered pretty well, "Yeah. I know how that is. After I fell out that window my back was purple for the next month."

"I can only imagine. Speaking of going out windows, I was worried you'd go out one again when you jumped out of your chair just then."

I guess I hadn't.

I decided to change the subject, "So, did you decide what you want do?" For a minute there I thought he was going to say we should call it a night. He was just standing there, staring at the computer screen, and I was starting to worry that I'd actually upset him.

"Yeah. I know what I'd like to do. I don't think we can do it tonight though. We can do it on our next night out though."

I had no idea what he was talking about and said so.

"Well," he explained, "We don't really have much time to do anything before you need to be back home."

"Will you just fucking spit it out already? What the hell do you want to do?"

"I want you to train me."

I had no idea what to say to that. I was totally blindsided. The best I could was a flat what, "What."

"I want you to train me. To fight."

"What? Why?" My eye's lit up, "Do you want to get back into the costume?" Cause I would be all over that if he did.

"Oh no, no," he shook his head. Shame.

"Then why?"

Because watching the video made me realize I really was in better condition then than I am now. I don't like feeling like I lost everything I gained when I was training to be Kick-Ass."

"Dude, what the hell are you talking about? You kicked those guys asses on Halloween."

"Yeah, I won, but I don't feel like I fared any better against those two guys than I did against those four. I should have be better now."

"Hey, okay, so you lost a little of your edge. So have I. I mean, I've hardly been up to the same routine I used to be, and I'm sure as hell not eating the same."

Man I miss liver.

"So we'd both benefit then. I mean, you're skills are amazing. It'd be a waste to let them get rusty."

"You're serious."

"Yes, yes I am."

I really didn't know what to make of this. I mean, sure, the idea of getting to spar with someone was exciting, but Dave wasn't really going to be much of a challenge. I'd spend more time teaching him than working on my own skill. But still, it could be a lot of fun.

I asked him where he wanted to do this. He said why not there in the safe house.

I looked around and said, "Are you serious? There's not much room in here."

"It'll be fine. We'll push the table into the kitchenette and we should have plenty of room."

I still think the space is a little tight, it is a small one bedroom(Ha. Bedroom. More like a closet) apartment. But I really couldn't come up with a good reason to not start training with him. Needless to say, I'm really looking forward to our next night out.


	17. Chapter 17

Mako's Message: … … …

Seriously.

This is a really rough part of the story for me, since it's necessary for me to get through but I don't have anything in mind for it. So, yeah. Inspire me. If you want to see something let me know. If I can oblige you without frelling up the story I'll try to.

* * *

The last week was kind of a haze. I'm not really sure if there was anything worth mentioning before tonight, honestly. Just school, movie night with Marcus, new comic day.

Actually, something did happen at Atomic Comics.

I got hit on.

Yeah. Imagine that. Little me getting hit on. I mean, I don't even have tit's yet! What could possibly be appealing about me? But this boy came up and asked me out anyway. I shot him down of course. Totally not my thing.

Katie thought it was cute and tried to hug me, saying I was growing up. She tried to ruffle my hair too and the only thing that stopped me from stabbing her was that Dave wouldn't like it. Lucky bitch.

I saw that boy and his friends laughing about something afterwards. I don't know what about though. I think Dave did, because he said something to them and then I saw them leave about a minute later looking about as scared as one of D'Amicos thugs waking up to find Daddy and I standing over them.

Dave came back to the table looking smug as hell and Katie wanted to know what he'd said to them. He said, "Just passing on some of my experience," Before diving into his comic.

I couldn't ask him what he meant because I had a feeling it was one of those things he couldn't talk to me about in front of Katie, and I completely forgot to ask about it later.

So, anyway, this week wasn't really eventful or out of the ordinary, but I spent most of it in a fog because I was trying to plan what I was going to teach Dave. I mean, he's not a _bad_ fighter, so where do I start? Do I just spar with him and teach him things as we go or should I start from the ground up? What about physical conditioning? It's not like he can go through the routine I did. I guess he doesn't need to, though, if he just wants to keep in shape.

Anyway, what I ended up doing was just spend the night sparing with him to see where he is.

After we pushed the tables out of the way, we did end up with a decent amount of space, and the carpet is pretty thick so we didn't need a mat. We'll probably need one if we start practicing throws though. Practicing throws sucks, for everybody, no matter what you practice on.

We started just by facing off against each other in barefeet and sweats, and let me tell you it was awkward. We both knew I was the (vastly) superior fighter, but I could tell Dave was still having a moment were he couldn't get passed the "I'm going to hit an 11-year-old-girl" concept. I didn't really want to hurt him either, but there was no other way to go about this properly so after a minute of standing around like dumbasses I just gave him a front kick to the nuts. He dodged it, of course, and just stared at me all bug eyed for a minute before I did it again. I followed it up with a basic straight punch to the gut and knocked the wind out of him.

"Geez Mindy, I thought you'd hold back" he said.

I told him I was and gave him a real kick. Not to the balls of course, I wouldn't hurt Dave like that, just to his thigh. He fell right on his face and I told him he was going to need to put a little more effort in or I'd start him at level 0.

I kicked for his head while he was getting up and he caught it and pushed me over. Not fast enough though. If I'd wanted to I had plenty of time to kick him with my other foot before he had me off balance.

I flipped right back up and he said I needed to teach him how to do that. I told him it was for the advanced class and he was still a beginner then came at him again.

His balance and reflexes are pretty good, probably from running the playground, his technique in some places was good, but in other places it was terrible. He counters really well if he can deflect an attack, but that's a big if. He did catch me across the jaw once though. Man was that a surprise. I took a step back and looked at him like, "What the hell?"

He started stuttering out something like, "I'm sorry, I thought" and I told him it was fine, I was just surprised he hit me at all. It was a pretty hard hit, in fact… shit.

Yeah it's starting to bruise. Fucking shit. How am I going to explain this? Maybe Marcus will believe I got it playing dodge ball or something. Shit. I'm going to have to figure something out so we don't end up looking like we're beating the crap out of each other.

Fuck. I hope Dave doesn't have any on his face…did I hit him in the face? I don't think so, but he's definitely gonna have one on his leg. I bet it'll be pretty wick fuckmothering sonufabitch. Katie will see that. Fucking hell. I hope he doesn't get in trouble. I feel like such a douche now. I'll need to get us gloves or something to dull the impacts.

Anyway, Dave isn't a bad fighter, but his fight vocabulary is weak. So I need to focus on expanding it and showing him how to use it, as well as some physical training. How that's going to work I don't know yet.

Fuck.


	18. Chapter 18

Mako's Message: Gah. I thought for sure this was going to be a monster of chapter, but it only made it to "second longest chapter" by a mere 300 or so words.

Anyway, a thanks goes out to Vanathor. His review reminded me of this idea that I'd completely forgotten about. And honestly, if I didn't use it now it would start to be less and less relevant and if I didn't do this I honestly don't know what I would have. Hope you all enjoy it.

* * *

I've saved Dave's life twice.

First when he was two seconds away from pissing himself at the prospect of being filled with a few dozen knife sized holes in Rasuls drug den, and again in the warehouse.

Dave repaid me for the first time by showing up in a jetpack armed with mini-guns before I had a rocket shot up my ass. He repaid the second one by using the rocket launcher from the first time to turn D'Amico into bit sized chunks for the city rats who turned him into rat poo which in my opinion is a slight upgrade. After that we were even.

Now I owe him my life.

Maybe.

I lucked out yesterday morning when I woke up to find that Marcus was already gone. With a whole day between me getting this fucking bruise on my face and meeting Marcus I'd have all sorts of things to explain it away with and less reason for him to think it happened while I was out with Dave.

I did however run into Angela. She was not happy to see the bruise, in fact she freaked the fuck out about it. I had to spend a good ten minutes trying to calm her down and convince her there was no need to involve the school nurse. I made up some bullshit about a can falling off a shelf and she thankfully bought it.

I was worried she was going to ask if Marcus was hitting me for a minute there.

Anyway, she told me she had a way to hide the bruise and I should meet her at lunch. I didn't know what to do about it, not without making it worse that is (What? I've never had to hide injuries before.), so I eagerly awaited the lunch bell. Up until then I had to deal with a bunch of fucking retards staring at me like I'd grown another head and every teacher asking me if I was okay.

When it was finally lunchtime I went looking for Dave to see how well he was doing and tell him that I wouldn't be running the playground with him. Fortunately Angela got to me first. She pulled me over to a table were Jessi was waiting for us. She was sitting there with a bunch of make-up sitting out in front of her.

I realized too late what was going on.

I tried to run but Angela had a firm grip on my arm. Before I could decide how far I was willing to go to escape this torture Jessi had come up and grabbed my other arm. Together they steered me to the table leaving me only two choices: accept my fate or break their noses.

So I sat at the table while Jessi put crap on my face and Angela explained what she was doing and how to do it myself. I wasn't really into the idea of using make-up(I'd prefer to not look like a whore, thanks.), but I could certainly see the value in it in this case. If I could have done this myself that morning my day would have gone a whole lot better. So after they'd both decided that they couldn't do a better job they used a pocket mirror to show me their handy work and, holy shit on a stick, I couldn't see the bruise. Hell, if I hadn't spent more than a second looking I wouldn't have even been able to tell I was wearing make-up.

All I could do at that point was hand the mirror back and say "You're good."

Jessi smiled, said, "Thank you," and gave me the compact, "For touch ups."

That was when I excused myself and went to look for Dave to see what he thought. Lunch was almost over so I figured he was probably with Katie somewhere but I didn't really care. I didn't really expect him to be there but the first place I looked was the playground. Of course he wasn't there so I decided to walk around the school to the picnic tables and see if he was there. On the way I decided to check my make-up to see how it held up in sunlight and after that I don't remember a shit-ridden thing until I woke up in this fucking hospital.

So what I'm told happened is one of the cunt-rags I'd fucked up on my first day had recently gotten his casts off, and while suffering through the broken bones he completely earned for picking on a cute little defenseless 7th grader (That's what he thought he was doing so that's what he gets credit for doing.), he sat there planning revenge and fantasizing about doing horrible things to me instead of rethinking the choices he'd made that got him there. This obviously makes him the stupider of the two because his twat-waffle compatriot saw the light of reason and decided to stop being a douche. Or maybe I just gave him bed-shitting nightmares. Either way he passed on his comrade-in-douche-baggerys plan to ambush and beat me.

The thing that really pisses me off about this is that I could have, and would have, made him regret THAT choice as well if the little shit-eater hadn't lucked out and knocked me unconscious with the first swing of his pipe.

So while I was unconscious he continued to beat me and who knows if he would have stopped if Dave hadn't shown up and beaten the unholy fuck out of him.

I'm actually really lucky for a few reasons. The first is that after the first blow to the head he decided to pass on beating me with the pipe in favor of kicking and stomping me. The second is that if I had told Dave I wouldn't be running with him he wouldn't have been looking for me and it's very possible no one would have noticed I was missing until after the end of lunch bell rang. I'm also lucky his friend wasn't with him, and to be brutally honest I'm lucky his first swing didn't kill me.

Anyway.

The first thing I saw when I woke up was Dave. The second was Katie. Fucking Katie. I can't even explain why her presence pissed me off, but just seeing her sitting there hanging on to Dave's arm just made me want to punch her in the face. It pisses me off even more that I can't explain why I don't like her. Even if she doesn't like me she's still been nothing but nice to me, if condescending at times. But she just….. I don't know. She seems fake? Maybe? I mean, she's pretty and smart, and she volunteers at homeless shelters and clinics and she's just so perfect she drives me nuts and she's always RIGHT THERE. Anytime I hang out with Dave at school or at the comic store she's there. Yes, she watches us when we run the playground. Yes she even has her own comics now that she likes to read so she'll show up at Atomic Comics ON HER OWN if something stops her from coming in with Dave. The only time I get to just hang out with him is when we have our nights out and it just never feels like it's enough. He's the only person I can really be myself around. No masquerade. No expectations. Just me.

Marcus was there of course. I just wasn't looking in his direction when I woke up.

He was of course relieved that I woke up, and was going to press all kinds of charges, but I had a feeling that he was going to somehow turn this into something he can use to try and make me more normal. Most parents would spring for self defense classes for their little girl after something like this, but he's probably going to flip out even more now if he catches me training too much. His definition of "too much" is probably lower now too. Guess we're going to have to be even more careful about hiding what we do on our nights out.

Dave though. Wow. From everything I've been told about what happened he went fucking berserk when he found me. I don't know what he did exactly but I gather I'm not the only one lucky to be alive. He's probably going to be suspended if not expelled for it though. Hopefully Marcus can pull some strings to keep any criminal charges at bay. I'd hate for him to have to go to jail over me. Honestly, I don't know if I could handle it because sometimes it feels like he's the only thing keeping me sane.

Anyway, Dave went with me to the hospital. Apparently he told them he was my brother so he could ride in the ambulance. Marcus was here about fifteen seconds after they called him and Katie came after school got out. I think she was here more for Dave than me but who knows. And my phone was full of messages from Angela and Jessi. Jessi's last one made me laugh: "Somebody pick up this god damned phone and tell me what's going on! :-O "

I woke up shortly before visiting hours were over though, so Dave and Katie left, Marcus must have exhausted himself with worry because he fell asleep soon after he was sure I was as okay as I could be without being discharged, and I didn't find my phone until after Angela and Jessi went to sleep, and to top it off Dave left his jacket, with his phone in it, here. What all that means is that I've had fuck all to do except watch shitty late night television (this Craig Ferguson guy is hilarious though), write, and draw. I've got a page filled up with pictures of Red Mist dieing in horrible and hilarious ways.

Well, at least I don't need to worry about hiding the bruise on my jaw anymore.


	19. Chapter 19

Mako's Message: The first half of this took several days. The second half took about half an hour. Let me know which you think is better.

Anyway, sorry for delay. Other projects sitting on the back burner had to come up front for awhile.

Also, this chapter went off in an entirely different direction than I'd intended. This was supposed to be the only chapter of her in the hospital, but now I'm not sure if I'll write another one or not. Anyway, enjoy and don't forget that reviews help me write better chapters. ^_^

* * *

I want out of this hospital.

NOW!

Whatever god or being that's in charge of my life, let me out of here.

Ugh. What's the point. No one can get me out of here without causing problems. It honestly makes me miss the days when my friends could talk me out of all my problems.

They lived on my hips and only knew one very loud word.

Honestly I've been so bored I almost looked through Dave's phone. The only thing that stopped me was the realization that I might find things in there that I really didn't want to find.

My first morning wasn't too bad. I slept through most of it since I was up all night. But when I did wake up I was bored out of my fucking mind. Daytime television is horrible on EVERY network it seems and even drawing Red Mist getting his tunk chewed off by wolves got boring.

In the afternoon though Dave came by to see how I was doing. I wasn't even sure if he would so it was awesome to see him. To make it even better he brought me my comics. I'd totally forgotten that it was new comic day.

Of course it was while I finally had some company that the hospital sent in a fucking counselor to talk to me and kicked Dave out. Fucking douchebag.

He wanted to talk about what happened to me, and about the old injuries that showed up on my x-rays but weren't in my medical records. It wasn't fun. He tried to beat around the bush but he pretty much asked if I was being abused. I almost broke his fucking face. My Daddy loved me more than anything. He'd have never hurt me in anyway that didn't make me stronger. He loved me so much that he put off his own revenge to train me so that I could get my own.

It does make me wonder sometimes though, what would have happened if my mother hadn't died. Would Daddy have come home from prison to find a happy and healthy wife and daughter and go on to live a quiet life? Would we have moved out of state? Or might have Daddy still wanted revenge for taking him away from his family for five years? Things would have been so very different. It really makes me wonder if I'd trade everything that has happened to have my Mommy and Daddy. You'd think it'd be a simple answer, but it's really not. And it becomes less simple the more I think about it.

The life I have now. Who I am. Would I give it up? We might have been happy. We might not have. What if Daddy was still as angry but with his wife still alive he didn't have the extra push to actually act on it? What if that pushed him to drinking and abuse? Or maybe he would have just been so happy to be free and back with his family that none of it mattered to him? I could have been a normal girl.

But then, I kind of like who I am, having the skills I do. If I'd had a normal childhood would I be another Twi-tard Bieber fan? Uhg. Just the thought give me shivers. And if we hadn't become Big Daddy and Hit Girl, how many criminals would still be alive? How many rapists, drug dealers, and murderers would still be walking around?

I just realized who wouldn't be walking around right now. Dave Lizewski.

Dave became Kick-Ass all on his own, it had nothing to do with us. But if we weren't around…Dave would be dead.

There'd be a lot of good people dead.

I'm sorry Mommy. I can't wish for it to be different.


	20. Chapter 20

_Mako's Message: Why Hello, Itallics, how are you?  
_

_Yeah, I'm trying something new out here. If I like it I'll keep it up. Anyway, while short, I think a lot of you will like the content of this chapter. Besides, I've got a bonus chapter to write and I don't want to delay the standard chapter. Speaking of which, these are the people who will be getting it._

_**dogbertcarrol**__: 17 reviews  
__**TorontoBatFan**__: 14 reviews_

_**RobGill**__: 12 reviews_

_**Proponent of EVO**__: 12 reviews_

_**2wingo**__: 15 reviews  
__**KuroiHanabixShenny**__: 18 reviews  
__**Vanathor**__: 12reviews  
_

_In addition to the bonus chapter, I want to thank you for the encouragement, suggestions, and constructive criticisms. They've been a great help in continuing the story. With that said, I haven't actually decided what will be the content of the story. So, I'm open to suggestions. It can be just like the usual chapters, it can focus on Dave, it could be third person, it could even be unrelated or include suggestions from everyone. Let me know what you think._

_And finally, enjoy the chapter and let me know what you think.  


* * *

_

I have crutches.

I tried to convince my Doctors, Marcus, and myself that I didn't need them. I swore up and down that I didn't need them. I stood by my bed and walked around the room without them. I was fine!

And then just as I was walking back to the bed, an honest to god stabbing pain lanced up my leg, through my hip, into my spine and I crumbled like one of those little tension toys.

Convinced it was just a fluke I still refused the crutches. I did another lap to prove it and made it back to my bed safely this time. The doctors shrugged and said I could have the crutches if I changed my mind. On one trip to the bathroom it happened again though. Luckily I caught the doorframe instead of going straight to the floor that time.

Then when I was finally discharged, while Marcus was filing out the papers at the desk, I decided to get up and go meet him so we could get the fuck out of there faster. Dave tried to stop me. I should have listened to him, really, but I wasn't going to let people treat me like I was weak.

It happened again in the middle of the hall.

Dave managed to catch me. No one else was close enough at the time. Dave asked if I was okay now, I told him I was but when I tried to stand again my leg wouldn't support my weight and I fell into him again. He started to say something but I said, "Just get me the fucking crutches"

One of the nurses chose that moment to tell me all patients had to leave the hospital in a wheelchair. "Oh fuck me," was the only response I had to that.

So now I have crutches.

I don't use them very often. If I'm just moving round in the same room I do it on my own, but I don't feel like falling on my face again so if I go more than a few steps I take them with me.

They're actually really easy to use. I'm surprised people have problems with them.

So, I missed two day's of school, I was told to take another off, and Marcus picked up my homework for me, leaving me with a lot of free time and an unjustifiably large stack of work. Not having anything better to do though I dove in to it.

At least it stopped me from being bored.

Angela did come over later though. She apologized for not seeing me in the hospital because her mom was too busy to take her. I told her it was fine and she started catching me up on what was going on at school. I didn't care of course, but it was nice to have the company.

I did cringe though when she sat on my bed hugging the teddy bear with the AK-47 in it. I just sat there praying she wouldn't notice anything odd about it while she kept talking about who was doing stuff I didn't care about.

She did mention that Dave hadn't been in school since I was attacked. She didn't know why, but everyone figured that he'd been suspended. She wasn't surprised after what he did to the kid.

That caught my attention.

I asked her if she knew what he did.

"Oh yeah," she said, "We saw the whole thing."

"So what happened? All I know is he beat the fuck out of him."

"That's what happened."

"Details woman!"

"Fine fine. Jessi and were coming around the building and saw that guy kicking you on the ground and you weren't moving. Dave was already running at him and tackled him. The guy got up and tried to run but Dave was too fast for him. He caught him by the shirt and threw him into the wall and tried to pin him there, but the kid pushed him away and tried to run for it again. Dave caught him almost immediately, spun him around and punched him the face. He probably would have floored him with that punch but he was still holding onto him.

"So the guy tried fight back but it was kind of pitiful. Pretty much everything he threw at Dave was blocked and what did hit him he, he just shrugged off. Dave just kept punching, kneeing, and elbowing him until he finally stopped fighting back. That's when Dave threw him face first into the wall. He bounced off and fell to the ground just lay there bleeding and moaning.

"Dave started yelling for help then and not long after the paramedics showed up. They took both of you to the hospital, and after that I don't know anything until you texted me in the morning."

Dave hospitalized the kid? I really didn't think he had it in him. Not that I didn't think he _could_ do it, I mean he shot D'Amico with a fucking bazooka. I just didn't think he _would_ do something like that. But he did. He beat a kid bloody to protect me.

It kinda makes me feel all fuzzy inside.

It also gave me an idea for training Dave. I've known he wasn't a _bad_ fighter since I first saw him, and he did pretty well against those two douches on Halloween. What he really needs is some experience and conditioning. I can teach him more techniques as he improves.


	21. Chapter 21

_Mako's Message: The length of these chapters really frustrate me. I mean, what does it take, two minutes to read these things? I guess the thing that bug's me so much is I get these ideas for a chapter, and then I get to the end point, look back and go, "Is that really all I wrote?" but you all seem to be enjoying them all the same, and I guess the short length makes them easier to fit into busy schedules, if you have them. _

_That said I'm annoyed at how close I came to not getting this up within a week. (It's still the same week, right…?) But then I did write that bonus chapter, and have been working on various play-by-post role-plays, and don't even get me started on work and the kids._

_But yeah. I'm hoping for two a week at least. At these lengths it shouldn't be too hard and with all the ground we have to cover I'm gonna need to work fast anyway._

_That said, I'm announcing the second bonus chapter. It will be released after I hit Ch.40 to everyone who reviews ten or more of __**the next 20 chapters**__. Reviews of chapters before this one will not count. _

* * *

Marcus does his best to look out for me, he really does, and I love him for it. Sometimes he takes it too far though. When he saw me getting ready, crutches and all, he asked me, "Where do you think you're going?"

You know the way, where the emphasis is on the word "think."

I told him that we both _knew_ where I was going; out with Dave.

And that's when we started arguing about what I was and wasn't doing. For some reason he seemed to think I wasn't capable of taking care of myself. Yeah, my leg might give out on me, but I'm still capable of defending myself even if that happens, especially with the crutches. And just for a second, let's pretend that I wasn't. I was still going out with DAVE for fucks sakes. I think he's proven that he's not going to let me get hurt.

Looking back on it though, from a third parties perspective, it was pretty funny. You see, Dave was standing at the door and neither of us noticed, despite the fact that we kept opening and shutting it. Dave told me the door was slammed in his face five times before we noticed him.

Marcus apologized when we finally saw him standing there. Dave didn't seem bothered by it, he probably though it was funny. I was just mad that Marcus had kept slamming the fucking door on him.

What blew me away was that Dave said we wouldn't go out if he wasn't okay. I couldn't believe he'd turn traitor on me like. But I was wrong. You see, as soon as Dave said that, Marcus stopped being so resistant to the idea. He started asking where we were going to go(Dave lied), what we were going to do(he lied again), and when we'd be back(told the truth on that one. After that he let us go.

Dave said you just had to know how to handle parents.

It occurred to me then that I really hadn't had those kinds of problems before. It was just me and Daddy and we sure as hell didn't have any fights about going out, because if I went out he went with me.

When we stopped for food, I told him to get a few extra chicken nuggets. It wasn't the best, but if we were going to start putting more muscle on him he'd need to increase his protein intake and it was a start.

So, after we ate and cleaned some of the guns( Dave is almost as fast as I am now. He's really a quick learner) we started training.

I was surprised when he took off his shirt (he said he didn't want to get it all sweaty), but I didn't really mind.

Have I mentioned he has nice abs? He does. More of a four-pack than a six-pack but the man does look good with his shirt off. If he ditched the glasses he could probably model at this point. Hell, with the way he lies he could be a teen heartthrob actor or some shit.

Anyway, after prodding him in the stomach and arms a few times for examination purposes, I declared that he was in shape, but if he wanted to be a real fighter he'd need to be in better shape.

He asked how much better shape and I answered by showing him _my_ abs.

His eyes practically popped out of his head.

He stepped over and put his hand on my stomach and said, "Jesus Christ Mindy, you're made of iron!"

Having his hand on me like that was kinda weird. I don't know how to describe it. I keep coming back to "it tickled" but that's not what it was at all.

He suddenly yanked his hand back and apologized.

I told him it was okay and that "If you think I'm made of iron now, you should have felt me back when we first met."

He gave me such a weird look when I said that.

Anyway, after that I started telling him about how if we made him stronger and faster, his current fighting ability would be good enough for any punk he went up against, and that "faster and stronger" would help him more against a better fighter than better moves would at his current strength and speed, so we'd be working on conditioning.

I showed him a few exercises that would limber him up, strengthen him, and improve his balance all at once. I spent most of the night watching him, yelling at him to go deeper and faster, and poking him with my crutches when he fell out of form. All and all it was pretty fun. The only thing we were missing was some 80's montage music.

I would have liked to work beside him, but a lot of the exercises put a lot of strain on the legs and I didn't feel like falling over every five minutes. I told him that as soon as my leg stopped being a traitorous bitch I'd be working and sparing with him again.

It feels really good to be training with someone again. I can't wait until I can ditch these fucking crutches.


	22. Chapter 22

_Mako's Message: I've had kind of a revelation about the length of these chapters. They have a limited time frame; there is a start point and an end point. Sometimes a lot happens between those points, like in the Halloween chapter, and sometimes not much of anything happens. I just need to do the best I can with the time frame I'm writing about, and not worry about the length. If anything I should put more effort into getting chapters out quickly( say, a goal of one every three days.) than trying to make them longer. _

_I have a lot of time to cover so that's probably the best tactic anyway._

_In other news, TorontoBatFan showed me a video made by a friend of his that I think is worth checking out if you're a fan of Dave and Mindy. Trying to post a url address will probably be futile, so just search for it on YouTube: Never Alone – Mindy(Hit Girl)/Dave(Kick-Ass) _

_(Tell `em I sent you ~_^ )_

_Now, on with the story!  
_

* * *

First day back at school since the beating. Turns out it was Dave's first day back too. Marcus pulled some strings and convinced the school that Dave's action's both saved my life and put a violent sociopath into custody, so they let him off with the week of suspension he'd already served. No charges are being pressed against him either. The kids mother was furious about it until she found out just what her son did to me. Or so I'm told.

I had my crutches still. I was going to try and get through today without them, but my leg betrayed me again just as I was heading out the door. I gotta tell you, that shit is really starting to piss me off.

The crutches themselves aren't so bad. I like that it's making me work my arms more, but it's costing me my legs. It's actually kind of fun, honestly, and they aren't slowing me down. I just don't like looking like prey.

Yeah, I know I could just not use them, and the odds are good that I could get through a school day without an incident… It's just that if my leg gives out on me, even if I catch myself before I fall, I'll look weaker than I do with the damn crutches. At least I can beat people with them if it comes down to it.

Hell, I took a swing at Jessi with one when she came up and asked, "Is my favorite cripple glad to be back at school?"

No, I wasn't really trying and she knew it.

I was allowed to leave my classes five minutes early so I could get to my next class on time. I passed on it though. I didn't need it and it was fun watching people gape at how fast I could move on them.

Some boy asked if I needed help with my books. All I said was, "No, I've got them," but he started acting all stiff and muttered something I couldn't understand and walked away. What the hell was that about? Fucking weirdo.

I ate lunch with Angela and Jessi, and for once we talked about me. It was difficult, since I couldn't talk about half the stuff I get up to. Nice to see they actually cared, I didn't expect that. I actually ended up losing track of time with them so I didn't see Dave until after school.

He was walking kinda stiffly so I asked him if he was doing the exercises I showed him at home. He said, "Are you crazy? I was so sore yesterday I could barely move!"

I told him, "You can't let that stop you. If you do it will just be worse when you do it again."

He grumbled about it but said he'd do them daily from now on.

I told him he'd better because I wasn't going to get easier on him.

He chose that moment to change the subject to Thanksgiving dinner. He wanted to know if Marcus and I would like to come to their house. It sounded like it could be fun, but I didn't feel like going if Katie was going to be there. He said that her family was going out of town, though, so I told him I'd ask Marcus.

Turns out that Marcus didn't have any plans this year (He usually goes to his parents, but they were spending it with his brother and his wife's family), so he was happy to accept the invitation and finally get to meet Mr. Lizewski.

It's the first family holiday since Daddy died, so I'm glad I'll get to spend it surrounded by people I care about. Daddy and I didn't have any traditions for the holiday, not even a special food, so I don't think I'll really miss anything about it. It's just… he wont be there. He won't be there ever again. For anything. And every time I start to think I'm okay with it something happens to remind me that I'm not.


	23. Chapter 23

_Mako's Message: I blame St. Patricks day! …Eh… I did that by choice so I guess I have no excuse. Anyway, I hope you all enjoy this chapter, please be sure to leave reviews as they always help me improve. Not only my writing but the story as well. More after the fic.  


* * *

  
_

It seems Dave was busy while I was recovering

Dave mentioned before that he was looking in to getting a job since his cash was running dangerously low, but he never told me he actually started putting in applications. I guess not being in school gave him a lot of free time and he wanted to put it to good use.

He was pretty serious about it too. He pretty much canvassed anywhere he could get to with applications. In fact, that was the only he reason he got a job. If he hadn't just been carpet bombing the fucking city with his resume or whatever he wouldn't have walked into an ice cream store in November looking for a job.

Apparently they had just fired their evening guy and the manager had been covering the shift himself. So when Dave came in the guy pretty much gave him an interview on the spot. He's been getting trained for the last couple of days, then he'll be on his own.

I asked him if he was worried about being all on his own after only a few days of training. He said he wasn't, since it was pretty simple and it wouldn't be until the peak of the Christmas shopping season that things got busy so he had some time to really get the job down.

If there's one thing I've learned about Dave, it's that if say's he'll handle something, he'll handle it.

Though, that is what he said to Katie when he went to Rasul's place…

Anyway, I got to visit him at work today.

He's out of training, but he hasn't been "certified"(Whatever that means. It's fucking ice cream for gods sake) to operate on his own yet, so he'll be shadowed through his shift by someone who is for a few days.

Marcus wanted to see where he worked as well, so he dropped me off and then went looking for a place to park.

Which left me sitting at the counter with Katie.

We said "hi". I asked were Dave was. She said he was in the back changing the soda syrup. We sat in silence.

I started to wonder why Katie seemed so impatient, and got my answer almost as soon as I asked it; a female voice came up from downstairs. I couldn't make out what she said, but Dave found it hilarious. They came out of the back laughing about whatever it was and she had her hand on his arm.

"Whore."

It took everything I had not to laugh, since Katie had barely said that loud enough for _me_ to hear.

Dave introduced us, she thought my name was cute(I'm really starting to hate my name), her name was Riley and I thought it made her sound like a fucking slut. The unbuttoned polo shirt with D-cups didn't help her image. She said she'd just step into the back and let Dave do his thing so she could observe and smiled, at Dave mostly, and waved, again, mostly at Dave, before going into the back.

There's a little window so people working in the back can keep an eye on the counter, so I could see her sit on a counter and start texting someone.

So Katie asks, "Will she be the one shadowing you on every shift?"

Dave says, "Yeah. She's supposed to be one of the best. She's looking at getting moved up to management, but she's not sure if she wants to do that," and hands Katie a root beer float.

I wonder if Dave noticed Katie bent her spoon in half.

So he asks me what I'd like and just to mess with him I order what looks like the most complicated sundae they have.

I think he may have even loaded it up with extra stuff for me, but I can't be sure. The thing's so fucking huge anyway.

Marcus finally came in and I saw Riley start paying attention. I guess Dave wanted to impress Marcus because he acted completely professional and treated him just like another customer, though he did call him by name.

Marcus got a chocolate and peanut butter parfait thing and I started to think I should have gotten that. Though, I'm pretty sure almost anything on that menu would look delicious.

So we spent awhile just sitting there and talking, all four of us, about his new job, and how he liked it and stuff. Every once in awhile someone else would come in, and he was able to handle it all really well. Though, every time Dave had to go into the back we could see the slut flirting with him.

Eventually Marcus said that he had to get an early start tomorrow so it was time for us to go. I asked if he would bring the car around again so I could get a chance to say goodbye to Dave since he'd had to go back into the basement for more cups.

When Dave came back I said I was gonna be leaving soon and he said I should come by whenever I could. Then he went into the back because Riley said that now would be a good time to do some cleaning. While he was doing that, Riley was leaning on his shoulder and pressing herself against him while talking into his ear.

Katie glanced over at me and said quietly, "We need to keep him away from her."

"Agreed."

So Katie and I are comrades in arms now. Who'dve thunk it?

* * *

_Mako's Message the Second: You guys have been great, and I feel like I should throw you guys a bone since you've been so patient and encouraging of me to "get to the point". So here are some previews of things to come in "_Precocious Crush_"  
* * *_

"_And to make this even more awkward, when I woke up I was using Dave's leg as a pillow and he was stroking my hair."_

_"I've never been so embarrassed in my life."_

_"'Stop trying to take my Dave away!'"  
_  
_"'I know who she is! I'm not STUPID!'"_

"_I couldn't believe what I was seeing. I couldn't believe I was watching her die."_

_"I made sure he had a nice view of my ass."  
_  
"..._I don't know what I'm going to do. It hurts so much..."_

_Let the wild mass guessing begin…_


	24. Chapter 24

_Mako's Message: Well… I'm only disappointed in this because I actually thought I'd get it up on the same day as the last one. Hooray for reality crushing my ambitions!_

_Anyway, I almost wrote this covering the Thanksgiving as well… then the ending happened. But really… I think I crammed too many days into November. I know more happened this month than the others…but half this story takes place over less than a month. The first half over two. How the hell did I do that? What's scary is that I realized I was practically writing this in real time. Noooooo! _

_Oh, and guess what? It's 2010 in my fic. Yeah, I decided on that tonight. _

_Oh wait. Almost forgot. I was really surprised by you reactions to Riley. I was _not_ expecting the small, but potent, amount of hate I saw in those reviews. Guess I did a good job on her._

I think hell might have frozen over or something. The last time I saw Katie at school she asked me to keep Dave occupied as much as possible while she was out of town with her family.

She specifically asked me to spend as much time with him as possible.

Maybe it was just me, but I kinda thought she didn't like Dave hanging around me so much. Though, I guess she'd rather he be with me than going out after work with Riley. Well, I'm sure as fuck not gonna argue about it.

So, the next day I asked him if he wanted to go do something that night, since Katie was gone for the holiday.

He said he'd love to and asked what I wanted to do. I just figured we'd go do what we normally do when we go out, but since he actually asked... I had to think about it. I guess it didn't occur to me that we could go do something else. And since we wanted to make sure he didn't think about boning Riley I thought it should be something different. Something just for fun.

"Let's go see a movie," I said.

"Cool, sounds like fun," he said.

Then I said, "It's a date then."

WHAT THE FUCK! WHY DID I _SAY_ THAT! UUUGHHH!

I still feel stupid because of that. Dave didn't seem to think anything of it, thank god. If he'd said anything I'd have had to kill him to stop him from mentioning it again.

Anyway, I asked Marcus to drop me off at Dave's job, since Dave was able to borrow the car to get to work.

The store was empty when I got there and Dave was in the back. I could hear him talking to Riley. I saw him look out and smile at me, "Be there in a minute," he says.

I hear him tell her, "It's Mindy. Is everything good to go?"

She says, "It looks like it. But do you have to go? I was hoping we could hang out after work one of these days."

Hah. That's not going to happen if I have anything to say about it.

She put her hand on his shoulder when she said goodbye and let it drag down his arm as he walked away. I swear on all that is holy this slut looks for any opportunity to put her hands on him. 

When he came out he was still putting his jacket on and he put his hand on my shoulder as we walked out. I don't know why he did that, but I'll call it a win for our side.

As we walked to the car Dave asked me if there was anything I wanted to see, and I had another one of the stupid moments were my mind went blank. I hadn't thought about that at all. I didn't even know what was playing.

I told him I hadn't thought about it, and he said, "Well, there's one movie I'd like to see. I'm just not sure if it's in theaters anymore."

"Sure. Whatever you'd like to see is fine with me," I said.

So he took me to the dollar theater, saying if it was in theaters at all it'd be here.

As soon as we walked in he sighed in relief and said it was there. 

When I asked him which one, he said "Let Me In". I'd never heard of it, but he said it's been called the "anti-Twilight" so I was all for it. 

The movie was really good. I really identified with Abby. She's more mature than she looks, she doesn't fit in, she's done horrible things (though, her victims might have been innocent, mine were at least guilty of being pieces of shit) and she found someone who accepted her for who she was, who really connected with her, and was willing to take care of her.

Dave and I went out and got dinner afterwards, and talked about the movie. He said it was exactly what he needed since Katie had had him watch Twilight with him again before she left. I told him I thought it sucked that all vampire romances couldn't be like Let Me In. I'd be all for them if they were.

It didn't occur to me until after he took me home that we'd just spent a perfectly normal night out together. No guns, no training, no talk about our other selves. It surprised me even more when I realized I liked it.

Well, more normality is in store for me tomorrow I guess. It's time for my first real Thanksgiving dinner.


	25. Chapter 25

_Mako's Message: Oh boy. It's another "long" one. Still not the longest, but easily second longest. I gotta say, I don't know what possessed me to stay up and write this. I guess I'm just eager to please my fans._

_Man, I just don't know. Today was traumatic, but I got through it, I got some cleaning done, I got some other projects done, and I wrote four pages of this. I really thought I'd have a lot to say but I guess none of it worth mentioning because i've forgotten it. Or I'm just too sleepy to think properly._

_Anyway, this I did want to say: The game exists. And everything I said about it is true. EVERYTHING._

* * *

I didn't want to go over to Dave's with my crutches, and my leg hadn't bothered me in a couple days, so I figured this would be as good a time as any to try and ditch the fucking things. It went pretty well. I walked around the house, did some stretches, some katas, and all was good. Hell, I even jogged around the block a few times.

Everything seemed fine.

Then when I walked in, Marcus saw me and said, "Hey, you're leg's all better?"

I stopped, ready to say, "Yes, my leg is great and I couldn't be happier," but as I turned around…

IT FUCKING GAVE OUT ON ME AGAIN!

Marcus ran over to help me but I stopped him. I didn't need his help. I stood up and stood on the fucked up one, I hopped on that leg. I did a fucking back flip right there in the hallway, stuck the landing, and held my arms out and said, "See? I'm fine."

Marcus just shrugged and said that as long as I sure I was okay he wouldn't say anything, but he'd more than happily take me to see a doctor if I wasn't.

I assured him I was then went upstairs to continue testing my leg in private. I really don't know what is wrong with it. It seems fine 99% of the time and then WHAM! Pain! The pain isn't even unbearable, I've dealt with far worse. The problem is that it makes my leg give out completely. Sometimes I can catch myself before I fall but…

God damn it pisses me off. I can kick your ass but I can't trust my own fucking leg.

Marcus called up to tell me it was time to go not too long after that. I had to rush to get ready since I'd been trying to figure out what sets my leg off all morning.

So far the best I've come up with is that it happens if I put my weight on it "wrong". I just have no motherfucking clue what wrong IS.

So whatever. I'll deal.

This is the first time I'd gone to Dave's house. It seemed kind of weird when I thought of it. But then, Dave always picked me up from my house when we went out, and the first couple of months after everything happened with D'Amico, I was just so busy getting things moved into Marcus's house, getting medical exams and testing for school, that I just didn't think about it. I was happy to just be passing some texts back and forth.

Well, actually, I have been there before. But I was uninvited that time and we only saw his room. Oh man he was so freaked out. The look on his face when he saw us was hilarious. I couldn't resist fucking with him though, even if I was impressed by his display of balls by walking into that drug den.

Man, he was so out of his element. I don't know what he was thinking. But I guess that's part of what I liked about him. He decided to just jump into the world of crime fighting feet first without any idea of what he was actually getting into, but he didn't even look back when the realization hit him. Even though he failed miserably when he confronted Rasul, he still held his ground, gave it his best, and didn't freak out until he knew he was fucked.

Kind of a shame. I'd have liked to see how that would have turned out if he'd had a real weapon, or even a real goddamned Tazer instead of that pussy little knock off.

So this was the first time I'd gone to his house on an invitation, and I was going to meet his dad.

When we got there, his Dad let us in. I caught a glimpse of Dave trying to ditch a frilly pink apron as Marcus introduced us. Dave's Dad (whose name is Casimir, by the way. Thank god he named his son Dave. With a last name like Lizewski he's got enough working against him.) said that I was "a cute little thing."

I decided then and there that I was done with pigtails forever.

I excused myself as Marcus and Casimir… I really can't call him that. I think I'll stick to something like Mr. L. That at least sounds a _little_ cooler. As our parents talked I went in to talk to Dave, who showed me what they were cooking for dinner. They really went all out. The turkey was huge, they had three different kinds of potatoes, two kinds of rolls, lettuce and fruit salads, two types of stuffing, four different pies, six different vegetables and some polish dishes I can't remember the names of. Dave said it was the first time they'd had guests for Thanksgiving in a long time and that they had just eaten frozen turkey dinners last year.

I guess they wanted to make up for it and impress us at the same time, and they succeeded.

Since they'd pretty much finished everything and just needed to wait for the turkey to finish cooking, Mr. L and Marcus sat down in the living room and I followed Dave up to his room when he said he wanted to put on a fresh shirt.

I poked around while he was changing, just out of idle curiosity. I wasn't really expecting to find anything interesting. There were some magazines about martial arts and video games, comic books, a catalog of swords and knives, posters of comic characters, movies, and hot chicks, some weights, a pull-up bar, and his computer, nothing out of the ordinary. Then, for some reason that I can't think of I looked into the trash and there was half a condom wrapper.

Suddenly images of what Dave and Katie would get up to in that room flashed through my mind and I found it very hard to think about anything else. I was stuck in a state of half horror, half fascination at the idea of Dave and Katie fucking on that bed.

I didn't snap out of it until Dave put his hand on my shoulder asking if I was okay.

I told him I was, but I've spaced out like this so many times I think he was still worried. I'll have to make sure it doesn't happen again. I don't want to worry him over something stupid.

We went down stairs and Mr. L asked me how I was handling being in a new school. It was kind of a weird question if you ask me, since I'd been there for almost three months already, but I guess he was just trying to make conversation.

It was kind of stiff at first, but we relaxed pretty easily after we got talking. Mr. L seemed really interested in some of Marcus's stories from being a detective, and Marcus seemed a lot more interested in getting to know Mr. L when it came out that he was dating a black woman.

All in all it was really nice, and I started wondering if this was what having a normal family was like.

Then…while our parents were reminiscing about high school and the girls they'd dated. Mr. L asked if Marcus had seen Katie, and said how proud he was of his son for managing to attract the most popular girl in the school… Specifically, he said, "You have to be pretty kick ass to get a girl like that."

Marcus immediately shot me a look that spoke volumes, since I'd told him that Dave hadn't told his father about his adventures in crime fighting. I didn't know what to say. I looked at Dave, (who looked even more freaked out than Marcus did) questioningly and he just shook his head rapidly. Marcus decided to just agree and change the subject.

After we ate our parents sat down to watch some football and Dave and I went back upstairs to his room. Marty had sent him a game he wanted to show me, he said he was sure I'd love it. It was an old style, 8-bit platformer called "I Want to Be The Guy". The music was good, but I was otherwise uninterested. The game had four controls, move left, move right, jump, and shoot, so I figured the game couldn't be that hard.

Boy was I fucking wrong.

I died in an explosion of gore about five seconds in from a death trap you couldn't have known was there. So I tried again, got passed the first trap, and died again. I tried again, got the same result. After four tries I finally got to the next screen, and ya know what? I fucking died again! I couldn't last more than a minute in that game. It was fucking sadistic. It got to the point that I slammed the keyboard down and yelled, "What bastard designed this game, because I'm gonna kill him!"

Dave just laughed and said, "The bastard that knows he's a bastard for designing this."

He showed me the trick to getting through the second room. Get this. It's to DIE. And then instead of hitting retry you wait, and watch the teleporting platform until you have the patter memorized, then to try again and leap to where it will be, because you can't jump to them before they disappear again if you wait for them show up first.

That fucking game stole four hours of my life.

I'm not gonna let it beat me though. Oh hell no. I will not lose to that fucking thing.

I probably would have kept playing but Mr. L called up to say that "It's a Wonderful Life" was coming on and wanted to know if we wanted to come watch it. I wanted to keep playing, but Dave told me I should take a break before I got so pissed off that I'd break his computer.

I conceded that giving it a rest would probably be a good idea but vowed to return and kick it's ass.

Dave laughed and said, "You sure are something else, Mindy." I'm not sure what he meant, but I'm pretty sure it was a good thing so I let it go.

I must have worked myself a lot harder than I thought that morning, because I fell asleep.

I had this weird dream that started in Dave's room with me in my Hit Girl suit. I was telling Dave that we'd meet again and blew him a kiss before climbing out the window. And then I was shot in the back, and fell out the window into an alley, were D'Amico started beating the shit out of me. And again, I couldn't do anything to defend myself, I couldn't even move, all I could do was lay there and take it.

And then Dave grabbed him, and the tables turned around completely. Dave was just fucking his shit up left and right and there was nothing he could do about it. Dave kept wailing on his ass until he was an unrecognizable bloody mess. Except, it wasn't D'Amico anymore, it was some kid.

He picked me up and held me in his arms, and told me that he would always be there for me. I nestled against his chest and I felt safe. I knew that Dave wouldn't let me get hurt if he could help it.

Then he said, "That's right. I'll always be there fore you, because I love you," and then he tilted my chin up and kissed me. Just as I started to kiss him back, the sudden realization of what was going on hit me and I guess it shocked me awake because the next thing I knew I was laying there on the couch, half freaked out, half pissed off and wondering where the fuck that came from.

And then, to make it even more awkward, I realized I was using Dave's leg as a pillow and he was stroking my hair.

He didn't notice I was awake, and I sure as hell didn't want him to. I looked around the room hoping I'd see something that could help me get out of there, but all I saw was Marcus and Mr. L asleep in a couple armchairs. Dave seemed to be the only one still awake and he was watching The Late Show, so I decided to just lay there and watch with him.

The Late Show was actually ending and The Late Late Show was coming on so I decided I didn't really mind the situation. After a few minutes though I started to drift off again.

That was about when the remote fell out of Mr. L's hand and hit the floor, loudly, waking us up. Marcus decided that we should get going so we said our goodbyes and "nice to meet you"'s and "see you soon"s and headed home.

I'm honestly really tired (Marcus said he wasn't surprised we all fell asleep considering how much turkey we ate) and I should go to bed, but I'm really not interested in having another freaky ass dream.


	26. Chapter 26

_Mako's Message: This chapter gave me so much trouble that three hours ago I'd have said that if this chapter had a face I'd stab it. Now though I kinda like it. I guess that's because what started like pulling teeth from a PMSing crocodile ended up being like bedding Riley. Incredibly easy. _

_Oh BURN!_

_Sorry. XD_

_Anyway, this chapter actually ended up at a decent length. It's also apparently the chapter where I start doing shout-outs. Keep an eye out for them. They're so subtle they may not even count. I assure you later ones won't be so hard to spot if you know what I'm referencing. Enjoy._

_

* * *

_

And so the Christmas shopping season begins.

It's actually kind of disturbing the way people will get up at fuck-o-clock in the morning just to get a good deal on a washing machine. Who the hell actually gives people things like that for Christmas?

Ya know what boggles my mind even more though? How Angela talked me into going with her to the mall on Black Friday.

I mean really. I was chilling at home, still trying to digest all that turkey, and Angela calls asking if I want to go to the mall. Was I not thinking clearly? Was my mind still in a turkey and gravy induced fog? Whatever it was, I said yes.

I told Marcus where I was going, and when Angela and her mom came to get me he practically threw me out the door.

The mall was stupidly crowded. I couldn't understand why everyone wanted to come shopping all at once. I can't imagine why the store would want to encourage the mobs scenes either. Wouldn't week, or even month long sales be easier to manage than 12-hour door busters but still bring in the same kind of cash?

Angela didn't think it was that crowded though, and was glad we were able to go that first day before "all the good stuff sells out", so obviously I know nothing of commerce.

I didn't really do any shopping though. I pretty much just followed Angela and her mom around. I looked at some stuff of course, but I didn't see anything I wanted to get anyone.

There was a store selling all sorts of swords and knives that caught my eye. I knew it was pretty much all just "for display" items, but it was still hard to keep my eyes off it. Even if they weren't really made for combat, it'd still be fun to pull one of the more exotic looking ones on some dealer stoned out of his mind.

I wonder if Dave would take me back there another time.

There was one point when we were waiting for her mother at a restroom when I decided to ask her why she invited me.

She just sort of shrugged and said, "All my other friends are out shopping on their own today. I didn't think you would be and I haven't really gotten to hang out with you since you were in the ho-" I loved the expression of dawning realization on her face. It was priceless, "You don't have your crutches!"

"You're right, Captain Observant, I don't." Yeah, it was kinda lame but I couldn't resist.

She shoved me and I almost fell off the railing we were sitting on and into a fountain. I've got kick ass ninja reflexes though, so I was fine.

She asked, "So is your leg okay now?"

I really wish I knew the answer to that. I haven't had any problems with it all day, but I have a feeling it's just waiting to catch me off guard. I just told her, "It's 99%" and shrugged.

When her mom came out she said it was time to head back. I decided to ask if we could go to NYBC (That's "New York's Best Creamery", the chain Dave works for. There's only like, five of them). I added that I could pay for myself and that they had really wicked sundaes. She thought about it for a minute then agreed.

Riley was there, of course, being Dave's incredibly slut-tastic shadow.

I could hear them in the back room, saying something like, "You could be risking your life right now."

"I know, that's what makes it so much fun."

It's like she's trying to set a record for how soon after I walk in can she piss me off.

She came out though instead of Dave. She welcomed us to the store and asked what we'd like, and then she recognized me and said, "Oh hey Mindy. Nice to see you again. Love you with your hair down. Are you with them?

I don't know how she managed it but she actually made me want to put my hair back in pigtails.

So, we placed our orders, I got a Double Fudge Deluxe Brownie Sundae, and after being warned that it was large, Angela and her mom decided to split a slice of "Shark Pie". I honestly didn't think a slice of pie could be that big, but holy shit. When she brought it out I suddenly felt like my sundae was puny. It had to be at least a foot high. Angela took a photo of it next to her head for scale. I swear it was bigger than her head. I also found out why it was called "shark pie", the slice looked like a shark fin. Not from the top, from the side. The pie itself wasn't that special though. Chocolate cookie crust, vanilla ice cream, caramel shell and peanuts.

My sundae had a chocolate chunk and walnut filled brownie, with chocolate ice cream, chocolate fudge, whipped cream, and a chocolate dipped cherry. It's what awesome tastes like.

While I was eating the sundae, Riley came over too talk to me and I nearly lost my appetite. What she said almost made me choke.

"So who are you trying to look all grown up for?"

I don't even know why but I went from zero-to-rage in nothing flat. I don't think she noticed because she leaned in like we were best friends sharing secrets, "Come on, it's obvious someone caught your eye since I last saw you."

I had no idea what she was talking about but she insisted it was the only reason I'd have changed my style. I asked why changing my hair had to mean I was interested in someone.

Then she said she wasn't just talking about my hair, that I was dressed different as well.

Okay, I may have been dressed a little girlier than usual, but it wasn't like I was showing of my non-existent tits and wearing a mini-skirt.

She finally said it was okay if I didn't want to admit it, and then gave me a piece of some holly or something saying it would help. I have no idea why she'd say that. And I don't even know what this is. Doesn't holly have sharp leaves and red berries? These are round and white.

Oh my god this is mistletoe. She gave me fucking mistletoe. Why the hell did she even ha- OH THAT WHORE! This is what they were talking about in the back room. I am going to gut her with a spoon the next time I see her.

* * *

_Mako's Message the Second: Btw, if any chapters or scenes make you think of any songs, let me know. I'd like to know what sort of associations you're making. There is one song I think is perfect for this fic, though, but I'm not gonna let you all in on it until I get to where you'll understand why it's perfect._


	27. Chapter 27

_Mako's Message: A short little nothing of a chapter. I'm honestly surprised it's as long as it is, after all, nothing happens. Not a damn thing. It's all fluff. Nothing important happens here what-so-ever._

_Oh, I do want to explain something about Dave's job and the "certification" thing. Dave did go through training, but right now he's in the "learner's permit" stage. Becoming certified will mean he can run the store by himself. This includes being able to maintain and troubleshoot the various equipment, as well as being able to properly count the drawer and placing orders. Of course, he also has to know how to make all the sundaes, pies, cakes, etc. that they offer. Riley has a checklist of things he has to be able to do without her help before he can be certified. Of course, she still has the final say. Well, her or the manager. But he's a busy guy._

* * *

Marcus found the Mistletoe on my desk. He asked where I got it from and I just told him someone gave it to me. He told me it was going to wilt if left like that, so he put it in a plastic sandwich bag and tossed it into the fridge. I don't know why I didn't just tell him to throw it out.

I tried to text Dave this morning to see if he wanted to hang out. He didn't get back to me until after noon. And then it was only to tell me he'd like to but he'd just woken up and had a lot to do today. Didn't tell me what he had to do, but I guess between work, spending time with Me, Katie, and Todd and Marty he has to get home and housework done sometime.

Wow. I hadn't actually thought of that. Dave is really stretching himself isn't he? Well, if he's anything he's a trooper, so I'm sure he'll get through it alright.

So, today was the first time I actually had the time to give my leg a real workout since I was put in the hospital. It didn't give me any problems, but I'm not gonna say it's all better. I'm sure that if I do it'll take that as sign to say, "No I'm not!" I know it's just waiting for the right moment to stab me in the back.

Anyway, I could feel that I'd lost some ground, but fortunately it wasn't too much, I should be back to normal pretty soon. Actually, I'll need to push harder. I can't let Dave catch up to me that easily now can I?

And I think I've got an idea of what to get Dave for Christmas. I'm just going to need to look around online for the right one.


	28. Chapter 28

_Mako's Message: So, here we go again. I think you all will like this chapter. It's got…stuff…that…you like...  
Well, here's something interesting for you all. The first chapter took place in early September. We're still in November. (Dear god. Talk about time compression) After talking to someone about the story, and what I planned to do with it, he said, "You realize you're looking at 100+ chapters right?" So you all wont be short on reading material any time soon. _

* * *

So I got a pleasant surprise this morning; Dave calling me at the crack of dawn. Okay, it wasn't pleasant at first, but I got over it.

He called because he saw I'd gotten rid of my crutches and wanted to know if I wanted to go train.

Yeah, Dave asks stupid questions sometimes.

The reason he called so early was that his dad needed the car in the afternoon, so if we wanted to really do anything we'd need to get an early start.

I left a note for Marcus. He wasn't pleased. Mostly with me just leaving the note. The man needs his sleep though. He probably wouldn't have even registered what I was asking if I tried to.

After the last time I wanted to make sure that we didn't bruise each other in noticeable places, so I took some of the suitcase money so we could get some pad's and such.

Dave asked how I'd hidden the money away from Marcus. I told him, "It's a secret," and in response to his raised eyebrow I added, "Yes, even from you."

He laughed and said, "Fine, don't tell me," And pushed me.

I retaliated with an elbow to the kidney, "Ow. You play rough," he said,.

I smirked at him and said, "Would you like me any more if I didn't?"

"Doubt it."

If anybody ever needs an example as to why I like Dave so much, I think I'll just point to that conversation. Just thinking about it makes me happy.

So, we picked up some sparring gloves, the kind that actually let you use your hand properly, not boxing gloves(Yeah, boxing gloves are good for punching, but I'm gonna be teaching Dave to do more than just punch people), some knee pads, some boxing helmets, and some ankle and wrist weights.

After that I told him I had something special planned and to take us to prospect park.

Daddy always took me there to run, so it seemed appropriate to not only start retraining my own body, but to really start Dave on the path to being Kick Ass in more than name.

I started putting the weights on, but I told Dave he didn't need to (No need to make it too hard on him. Yet.) and asked him if he knew the words to _You're the Best_.

He didn't even know what I was talking about. I have a lot of work ahead of me.

I tried _We're Not Gonna Take It_. Nope.

_TNT_? Nu-uh.

Obviously I'm not going to be able to let him pick out our work out music. But I finally got him with _Can't Stop_.

So I told him to start singing, keep up if he could, and took off.

Dave couldn't make it through the song, but he did manage to keep up, but I wasn't really making him work for it. I finished the track a little winded but other wise fine.

Dave on the other hand… well, when he caught up and said he felt like he was going to die I almost believed him.

We had at least that part of the park to ourselves, so while he was on his hands and knees, I strapped on a pair of the gloves and said, "I'm sorry to hear that, because it's about to get worse" and then I kicked him.

He had, maybe a second to see it coming, but he couldn't get out of the way. He did roll onto his feet (Well, one foot and one knee) and had his arms up and ready but he was still gasping for air.

My next kick he blocked, same with the series of punches I threw at him. I was going easy on him, giving him a second between punches and not throwing them as hard as I could (still hard enough to hurt though), but he was doing pretty good so I started to pick up the pace. He eventually got his wind back and even managed to get back on his feet.

And that's when I realized just how god damn short I am. Standing, he had a bigger height advantage over me than I had on him when he was on his fucking knees.

That's when I really started laying into him.

He did manage to throw a couple back, but after he surprised me the last time we sparred I was expecting him to be able to… so they all missed by a mile.

I kept pushing him for a few more minutes before sweeping his legs out from under him and throwing a punch that I stopped about an inch from his face.

I let myself flop down next to him while he caught his breath again and asked, "So, how're you doing?"

He managed to gasp out, "I think I'm okay. Or at least, I will be. Gimmie another minute."

I just smirked as I watched the clouds overhead and listened to his breathing for a few seconds before asking him when he needed to get the car back

He checked his watch and said we had enough time to go get some lunch before he had to get it back.

I was disappointed, but it'd been fun. So I was willing to call it a day when he said, "We can hang out at my place if you want though."

Yeah. My day just kept getting better.

We stopped at a Subway for lunch and talked for awhile. Nothing really interesting, just stuff from school, current events, or that new show he loves. Work did come up though for a bit. He said it was really wearing him out with everything he had to do and that he was dreading warmer weather. I decided to pry and little and said, "Surely it can't be all bad, what with Riley there."

He laughed at that and said, "Well, yeah, she's cool and all, but she really knows how to ride a guy."

I'm sure he just meant she worked him hard. No reason to think he meant it any other way. None at all.

When we got to Dave's house his dad was waiting for us. Dave apologized for keeping the car so long, but Mr. L said there wasn't anything to be sorry about, he was just all suited up and ready to go in case we _had_ been late.

Dave asked if I wanted another shot at That Game and I told him to try and stop me. So we went up to his room and he pulled a chair over to sit next to me as I started it up. I swear, if I wasn't sure he was some sort of sadomasochist, I'd hunt down the guy who programmed this game, tie him up, and kick him in the balls. Over, and over, and over. But I don't care what this game throws at me, it can have it's fruit that falls up, it can have it's invisible platforms, it can have it's traps you can't see coming, fuck, the bastard can drop the moon on me if he wants. I will not let it beat me!.

I didn't realize how involved I'd gotten in the game until Dave nudged my arm with a plate of chili-cheese fries. At first I didn't know why he was pushing food at me, but then I saw that it was after seven. When I asked him why he just let me play the game for so long he just shrugged as he ate his own fries and said, "I don't know. You just get so intense. I liked watching you play."

Bastard almost made me blush.

Then he mentioned that Marcus had called him, wanting to know why I hadn't responded to his texts or answered his phone calls, and that he'd be coming to get me at eight.

So Marcus showed up not long after we'd finished eating. He gave me a lecture about how he needed to know where I was and being worried about me.

I don't know why he was. I mean, yeah, I'd turned my phone on silent and forgot about it, but I'd told him I was with Dave and I can take care of myself. I'm not going to get into trouble.

Unfortunately my job of "keep Dave occupied" is over since Katie should be back in town now. Guess I'm just gonna have to go back to squeezing as much time with Dave in as I can.


	29. Chapter 29

_Mako's Message: Time skip! Sorta. Gotta keep things moving. Trying to do this day by day like I was would be insanity. Seriously, did you guys catch that? The last chapters where Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. _

_I almost forgot an interesting story._

_A new girl started at my workplace not that long ago, and I found out the other day that another of my coworkers was trying to get us together. Now, I bet you're wondering why I'm telling you this? Are you thinking, "Oh no, he's got a girlfriend now and the updates will stop"? No no, I'm still single, don't worry. I thought this would amuse you because of the girls name is _Mindy_._

_It sure amused me._

_Now on with the story._

* * *

Jesus fucking Christ was this week hell.

I swear the teacher's are desperately trying to cram as much information into our brains as possible before winter break. It's like they think we'll forget everything if they don't get it in before some sort of cut off date.

Okay, some of my classmates have the attention span of a goldfish. I'm surprised if they can remember what we were talking about at the beginning of class. Why do the rest of us have to suffer because of a couple of retards?

The work load for this week has been fucking ridiculous; Homework for every class, every night. Every class but one ended the week with a quiz, and at least one of my teachers plans to quiz us every week until winter break.

Insanity!

It's not even like the work is hard. There's just lots of it and it takes FOREVER to get through. I even had to take it with me on my night out with Dave (Marcus wouldn't let me leave until I promised to work on it while we were out.). We passed on the gun cleaning as we can clean them so fast now it's getting kind of redundant to clean them every week, and I just had him go through some warm up exercises while I worked.

Towards the end of the night he asked if we were going to spar or not. Since I'd pretty much finished everything I said sure, but that I needed a minute to stretch first since I'd been sitting so much I was really stiff. I didn't need to of course, I just wanted to catch him off guard. So while I was walking back and forth to "stretch my legs" I stepped on to a chair and leapt at him for a flying punch.

Surprisingly he caught me by my wrist. I should have followed up with something, but I was distracted by the sudden image of me crashing into him and us both tumbling back on to the couch and… never mind. I don't know where that came from. There was no tumbling anywhere and no crashing into anyone. He just brought his other hand up to my side to push me aside so I didn't hit him and he kind of tossed me away. Not my finest moment.

I could have kicked him before he could throw me, or punch him, or pretty much anything. It was somehow made worse by the fact that Dave threw me gently, like he was trying not to hurt me. That's probably exactly what he was doing actually. It was good to know he could do that though. If he'd wanted to he could have really hurt me by throwing me into a wall or a table or something. I mean, I doubt he's going to be fighting any little girls in the future, but the move still applies to anyone who leaps at him.

Dave is really impressing me. He's noticeably better each time we spar. He must really be taking this seriously and training hard on his own. I wonder how long it'll take him to catch up to me? A years or two? Months maybe? I guess it all depends on how hard we train on our own time.

I should put more effort into my own training. I don't want him catching up too quickly and I especially don't want him to catch up because I started to slip. That just wouldn't be fair to either of us. I have a standard to uphold after all.

Unfortunately that was the only time I really got to spend any time with Dave this week. Katie has been spending as much time with him as possible. I can understand why, for once. But it meant we didn't even get to free run the playground more than once this week.

The only other time we got to, ya know, talk and stuff was Monday. He came up to me at lunch and asked if I'd seen the day's paper. I hadn't so he pushed a copy over it folded over to an article titled, "Someone will get a coal mine in their stocking". A UPS driver apparently snapped and attacked one of the Salvation Army Santas on the street in broad daylight. Some helpful citizens dragged him off and he was arrested shortly after. Apparently the guy had a history of mental illness.

After I'd read the article I sighed and set it down. He asked what the sigh was for and I said, "I wish I could have been there."

He nodded his head and agreed, "Yeah, that does sound like it would have been fun."

He then tapped the newspaper and said, "There's another article in there you might like. Apparently Chris D'Amico was found dead in a department store changing room from a blow to the head."

I tore the fucking thing apart looking for it. Finally I gave up and said, "I can't find it. Where is it?"

He just sighed and rested his head in his hand and said, "I made it up. It's nice to imagine though."

He's such a dick for that. Can't say I disagree with him though.

I did manage to pick out Dave's gift though. It should get here well before Christmas which is good. I just hope there's no problem with it being sent to a P.O. Box. It'll be hard enough picking it up as is.

And I just got very good news. Dave has been certified! No more skank-whore!


	30. Chapter 30

_Mako's Message: Okay, if you all don't know, from what I observed, the problem with the chapter not appearing last time was a widespread site issue. Just like chapters, reviews were being accepted, and I and other authors were getting notified about them, but they were not showing on review pages. I noticed that the reviews I submitted as well as the ones I received today have also not posted to the site. If any of you received an alert about this chapter but got a "the chapter isn't here" message, odds are the problem hasn't (wasn't?) been entirely fixed yet. _

_Anyway, I seem to have discovered something. The amount of trouble I have getting a chapter started is directly proportional to how long the chapter ends up. Lot's of Marty and Todd in this chapter. Gave them some actual character this time, I think. Perhaps I went a bit too far and they're now out of character… well if you think they are hopefully it's in a good way._

_Speaking of what you think, in the interest of improving the story, if there's anything you think I could improve on, or you just don't like, let me know. I'll try to improve it if I can. Don't let that request stop you from telling me what you do like of course. That's important to keeping up the quality too. ~_^_

* * *

I was hoping I could spend some time with Dave over the weekend. It didn't happen. With all the work I had to do I'm wondering why I thought he'd be free. Especially considering he works most nights.

I saw Marty and Todd on Saturdayy though. Marcus thought I was doing a great job at school so he took me over to Atomic Comics and gave me an extra ten bucks plus bus fare if I needed it. They were sitting a booth doing homework but when they saw me come in they pushed it aside an invited me to come over and sit down.

They were happy to see me. Todd said, "Haven't seen you much since Halloween," as I sat down.

Marty added, "Yeah, lunch has been dull without our little deadpan snarker."

I didn't realize it until then, but I really _hadn't_ hung out with them much since I met Angela. We didn't even get to go trick or treating. I wonder what they did with those costumes…

Anyway, we had a pretty good time. We talked about comics, mostly, but we ended up talking about some of the new heroes out on the streets. The Marty didn't hesitate to proclaim the awesomeness of The Guardian. Todd was leaning towards some guy called The Gentleman, but he wasn't too sure since all he had to go by were a couple witness reports. I, of course, stood by Biker Knight.

Todd was surprised, he said he thought I'd be more into Hit Girl.

I had to fight the smirk off with everything I had, but I managed a straight face when I said, "Eh, she was just a one hit wonder. What's she done since?"

They both had to agree that after such a flashy entrance it was kind of a mystery as to why no one had seen anything of her since. If they only knew.

That of course brought up Kick Ass. Marty though that his disappearance had just been recovering from the beating he took the night of the live stream, but when he hadn't shown up again even months later he thought that maybe he'd been permanently injured.

"Or he just rage quit after that," Todd offered.

Marty shrugged and said it was possible. I countered with, "I don't know, personally, I think he'd be more for a roaring rampage of revenge than rage quitting."

Todd immediately changed his tune, "She has a point, if someone smashed my balls with a baseball bat I'd want to return the favor."

Marty's response to that was priceless, "Todd, no offense, but if someone cracked your nuts you'd lay on the ground and cry like a little girl."

I couldn't help laughing, I apologized for it once I got a grip, but I really couldn't. Todd didn't seem to think it was funny, "Oh, like you'd do any better?"

"Erika nailed me in the balls when we broke up, so yeah, I think I can safely say I could handle it."

I had to back the conversation up then, Marty and Erika had broken up? When the hell did that happen? Why hadn't I heard about this?

Apparently it happened over the last week. Marty had made some request of her that she responded to by kneeing him in the balls, calling him a pig, and telling him they were done. I said that he didn't seem to upset by it.

He just sipped his coffee and said he was, the first two times they'd broken up, (Whaaaaaaaaaat?) but he was confident she'd come back again. I had to know what was going on here so I started asking questions:

"So how many times have you broken up?"

"This will be the fourth time."

"So why are you so confident she'll come back?"

"Two reasons. The first, she wasn't doing much better than C's before we started dating. Now she's getting A's. Second, she loves the cock."

That was more information than I wanted, but it was worth it for Todd's reaction, "Dude! 11-year-old girl! Right there!" he said gesturing at me with both hands.

I couldn't resist, "Yeah, ya cunt. Watch your fucking mouth around the little girl, will ya?"

Marty just raised his eyebrow as he sipped his coffee again and said, "That's what I thought."

He can be such a smug bastard sometimes.

I started laughing at Todd's expression. It really was priceless. I couldn't even begin to describe it. Marty started laughing with me and Todd finally gave in and laughed to. Man those guys are hilarious. I should really spend more time with them.

I went to get something to drink myself then, and while I was waiting for my order this boy who was about my age, maybe a little older came up and started talking to me. He asked, "So, do you like comics…? Or are you here with someone who does?"

I thought it was a weird question but I told him that, yeah, I like comics, and I was here with Todd and Marty.

He asked if they were my brothers, and I just said no, they were friends from school.

He asked what kind of comics I liked, and I said I liked a good old traditional super hero comic. He said he liked those too, and was about to ask something else, I think, when my drink came and I said, "Well, see you around, I guess."

He looked like I'd just swept his legs out from under him, but he finally got it together enough to say, "Oh yeah. Sure. See you around."

When I got back to the table they were opening up the text books again, they stopped to exchange a look, and Marty said, "Popular, isn't she?"

I said, "Who me? What are you talking about? I'm not popular."

"Sure you're not."

I really don't know what he was getting at. If I was popular I'd have more than three, well five, friends…maybe six… should I count Katie? I mean, she annoys the shit out of me, but does that make her not my friend? I mean, we have that "Keep Dave Away From Riley" alliance and all, and we hang out… sorta… She's really just there with Dave and I've never really enjoyed her company. She did come with Dave to the hospital to see me, though. But that was probably just to support- wait…

Didn't Angela say he got in the ambulance with me? So Katie would have had to go to the hospital by herself…

Okay, so I guess the only thing she's done to me is be this perfect, pretty little thing that is so sweet it makes me sick, so… I guess I can try to be nicer to her. After all, she is my best friends girlfriend. I should try to like her.

Assuming I can keep resisting the urge to stab her in the face every time she has one of those "I'm-the-most-perfect-thing-ever" moments.

Anyway, I told Marty to stop being weird and asked if I could see what they were working on.

It was a physics project that I didn't understand at all, but after watching them work out the problems for awhile I started to crack the code. It'll probably be easy by the time I get to that though. They are Juniors after all.

When the sun started to set I decided it was time to head home. They both offered to escort me home. Silly boys. Still, I thanked them but declined.

Hell, I might have welcomed an attempted mugging. It'd be nice to be able to cut loose again.

So I got home, decided to hit Marcus' work out room while I had the chance, then showered and plowed into my homework. Marcus came by just as I was finishing up with food from the burger joint near the station. I love it when he brings food back from there. The burger's are just delicious and thick, and juicy. Yeah, they always seem to end up smashed but you can't taste smashed. Not like you can taste awesome at least.

Before I went to bed I called Dave to see if he was able to do something tomorrow. He said he couldn't and apologized, making sure to note that we'd still be able to go out on out as usual though. He even said we didn't have to train and could just go see a movie or something if I wanted. I told him I actually enjoyed training him, that it was funny working him into the ground, "You scare me, sometimes, Mindy" he said and half laughed and half yawned. I told him he should get to sleep since he sounded exhausted. He agreed and hung up.

I hope he's okay. He's really seemed run over lately, and he didn't respond to any of my texts until after noon again.

Which reminds me. Today has fucking sucked. I stupidly finished ALL my homework last night, and with nothing to do today I tried to sleep in but failed miserably. I finally gave it up at about 10, sent out a few texts, went for a jog, texted Angela, laid on the couch and watched Spike TV for awhile. Drew some pictures. Worked on my staff katas. Went back to the couch to rot my brain on mindless television. I found a new My Little Pony show. It was kinda fun.

Dear God I am bored.


	31. Chapter 31

_Mako's Message: Another chapter? Already? What is this madness! Well, it's not too long, but I hope I got some interesting things across. _

…

_Yeah I don't really have anything to say this time. Enjoy!  
_

* * *

I can't believe I did that… I really have no idea what possessed me. Was I really that bored? Seriously?

I made some calls. I set this up. Me. I did this. God damn I must have been out of my mind. I called Dave. I got Katie's number. I called Katie.

And I asked if she wanted to go and hang out.

I really don't know what made me decide to do that. I must have been struck by temporary insanity.

But yeah, I called her up, said, "Hey, let's go do something. Girls night out and shit."

There was a long pause…but when she finally spoke she said, "Yeah. That actually sounds like a good idea. Erika could use a fun night out."

I asked if it was because of the break up. Katie was surprised I knew about that, but I told her I'd talked to Marty.

She said, "Yeah, she's kinda regretting it, but doesn't want to admit she misses him. She's just been mopping around my house since she can't talk to anybody else about it."

So we decided to go bowling. Again, my idea.

I invited Angela along too. She nearly pierced my eardrum with her squee of excitement. Katie came and picked me up, just as Marcus was coming home. He didn't know what to make of this, but he figured it couldn't be that bad if I was going out with some normal girls from school.

Erika was sitting in the front seat, but when I went to get into the car I could still tell she'd been crying. I don't know if the sex is just that good or what, but she obviously likes _something_ about Marty to be that upset about it.

So we picked up Angela, and when she opened the door, she looked up with eyes so wide and full of fanworship she wouldn't have been out of place in one of those Japanese cartoons.

Okay, I admit, that was almost worth spending time with Katie.

So we went bowling. It was kinda fun. Hadn't been in almost a year. Last time was a few days before my birthday to be specific.

I kept thinking back to that day. Back when everything was perfect.

"Two rounds. No wincing, no whining, and you've got yourself a deal young lady."

"Yeah! I'm gonna get a hot fudge sundae."

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

So I guess that's why I suggested Erika get a puppy.

When she asked why I said, "Puppies love you without asking you to do perverted shit."

Erika went about as pale as Angela went red.

Kaite, I could tell, was not pleased, "What do the boys talk about around you?"

I just shrugged, "Oh, ya know, just stuff."

"I see. I'll have to have a talk with Marty."

Whoops. Ah well, shame I didn't have a video of their reactions. I bet Marty would think it was worth it if he could have seen them.

We stopped at a Dairy Queen for food before heading home, Erika didn't want to get any ice cream though. She was worried about her weight. I just looked at her and told her that Marty wasn't going to care if she gained a few pounds.

I think she caught my meaning since it was the first time I saw her smile that night.

I had a strawberry sundae.

All in all I had a good time, I guess. It was fun to go bowling. It was fun to see Angela. It amused the hell out of me to see Angela following Katie around like a puppy. She wasn't amused by it though. I guess being followed around by an adoring fan would annoy anyone. I'm not sure what Angela likes about her so much. I think she just likes her because she's the most popular girl in the high school. I mean, this is the first time they've actually met, how else could she like her except by reputation?

So yeah, it was fun. There were a few awkward moments though, where I had no idea what to talk about and I spent most of it just talking with Angela. Erika and Katie pretty much stuck together as well. Erika did seem happier at the end of the night though, and Katie thanked me for suggesting it, so I guess it was a positive experience in the end.

I still have no fucking clue what made me do it in the first place though.


	32. Chapter 32

_Mako's Message: So, I hit a small snag called "we didn't pay the cable bill" so I'm posting this from a library computer. Otherwise it would have been up last night. So sorry about that. It kind of tripped up my Chapter Blitz, but it couldn't be helped._

_This is(was supposed to be) the third and semi-final part of said Chapter Blitz. After this update you probably wont hear from me until…Thursday, I guess, since I can't make it to the library before it closes tomorrow or Sunday, and it doesn't open on Monday or Friday (Weird, huh?)_

_So, uh. Yeah… oh hey look, fanservice!_

* * *

So, I just had this dream.

I'm in a dark place, with just a bit of light shining down on me, and I'm completely surrounded. I'm fighting off wave after wave of attackers. I can't even tell who they are. Everyone once and awhile though, I can make out face. A mobster, a teacher, some junkie, a kid from school, Red Mist, Katie, Frank D'Amico…Marcus. And off in the shadows, just at the edge of what I can see, there's a shadow. It never comes to attack me, it just paces around the circle. Watching me.

I don't think it want's to hurt me…it's just there…and there's someone else with him. I can't see who it is, but they're both just there. Shadows. Haunting me…

Past those two shadows… there's something else. Some monster in the darkness. I can't see it, or hear it, I just know it's out there. Waiting to sink it's claws into me.

And I just keep fighting. There's nothing I can do except keep fighting. I can't let them get me. I can't let them destroy me.

But I have help. There's someone at my back, fighting with me.

I can't tell who it is, but I can hear him, I catch occasional glimpses of green, and I'm never attacked from behind. Then finally I have to back away, and bump into him. We're literally fighting back to back, and I hear him say, I hear Dave say, "Don't worry, I'm here, we'll get through this."

Together we hold them off. Just knowing he's there makes me feel like I can fight forever.

Dave has other ideas.

He picks me up in his arms and takes me away. We leave it all behind and are just us.

The sun is setting behind us as I take off my wig and mask. He takes his off as well and smiles at me before reaching his hand out and brushing his fingers across my cheek. I close my eyes and push against his hand. His fingers cup my chin and tilt my face up. I open my eyes and he's right there, looking deep into my eyes.

I start to slowly lift up, reaching for him, and then he leans in and kisses me.

His hands on me are the only thing keeping me on my feet.

His fingers run through my hair as I press into him. I wrap my arms around his neck, curling his hair around my fingers, holding him tightly to me. His fingers run down my sides and I gasp as he reaches under my jacket and touches my skin. Without stopping the kiss, he reaches up and pulls the zipper down and pulls the jacket off. I'm not wearing my Kevlar and his fingers reach under my shirt, across my sides and up my back.

His lips leave mine and he trails light, ghostly, kisses across my chin, jaw and down my neck.

I'm holding myself up on his neck as he kisses along my shoulder. I'm sweating and panting and I'm trying to kiss him back but I can't reach him.

He lifts his hands up and pulls my shirt off me without any resistance, and without him holding me up I fall backwards on to the bed. He leans over me and kisses me again, roughly, catching me off guard. I reach for him but he pulls away.

Standing over me, he pulls his suit off, revealing his toned, rippling muscles. His skin is flushed and shining with sweat. I want to touch. I want to feel his skin, his muscles, his heat.

He puts one knee on the bed and leans over me. I push back and lift my face up to kiss him as he climbs on top of me. He kisses and bites at my lips then moves down my neck and kisses across my collar bone. I grab him by the hair, twisting his curls between my fingers and pulling him back up to my lips.

I take one hand and start running it up and down his strong back. Then across his chest and down his abs.

His breathe hitches as I smile against his lips and start to move my hand down between his legs but he catches my hand and brings it back up to his face as I feel him pressing against me.

Feeling him so close to me makes me whimper. My legs wrap around his waist and my arms around his head, pulling him against me. His starts kissing and biting at my neck again and I'm just ready to explode. I'm rubbing against him, I'm beyond words.

And then his fingers run down my chest, across my stomach and then, just as they slip past my waist band…

I wake up.

I'm sweating and I can't catch my breath. I don't think I'll be able to sleep again tonight.

I have no idea where that came from…but I liked it.


	33. Chapter 33

_Mako's Message: No comment  
__

I got my period.


	34. Chapter 34

_Mako's Message: Oh boy did I ever jump the gun. Yeah, so eager to get this to you I forgot about our little pre-chapter chat. Not much to say about this chapter, really. Just that I'll be trying to keep the pace of things moving and not let four chapters cover just ONE WEEKEND._

When i realized what I'd done I cried a little inside.

_Also, I'll be responding the the reviews received for the last two chapters now...and the two I already got for this chapter. Now, enjoy this chapter, and remember that my favorite types of reviews have three parts: what you liked, what you didn't, and why._

* * *

So, I was a raging bitch this week. I can admit it.

Todd and Marty pretty much avoided me after lunch on Monday. Angela and Jessi were sympathetic but gave me space. Katie just asked if I "needed anything" but otherwise stuck with Erika most of the time. I don't know if Katie had that talk with Marty yet. It should be fun to watch if I didn't miss it.

Dave however decided to weather the storm. I don't know if it was sweet or stupid of him, but it was nice to know he'd put up with me either way. When he called to ask if I still wanted to go out I said, "What the fuck do you think?"

He said, "I didn't know. That's why I called."

I kind of felt stupid after that.

We did go out, and I was feeling…punchy, so we just went straight for sparing practice. I was pretty rough on him. Maybe too rough. I know now I didn't hurt him, but when I woke up the next morning, before I saw him at school and when I wasn't ready to kill people for breathing… I was kinda worried about what I'd done to him.

I don't remember most of that night, I just remember knocking Dave on his ass a lot and cussing at him to get back up and fight.

Dave didn't seem to hold a grudge though…even though he was pretty bruised under his clothes.

I didn't mind him showing me. Kind of enjoyed it actually, but it certainly didn't help with all the slightly naughty to damn raunchy thoughts I've been having about him. It was kind of awkward talking to him when I couldn't look at him without picturing him topless. And the fact that just being around him started getting me all… hot just pissed me off all over again.

I wonder if Dave ever thinks of me like that…

Probably not. He's got Katie after all, and while she may not have much in the way of tits, at least she actually has them.

Marcus' reaction to all of this was the most interesting of all. I'd wonder how he figured it out, but all the bloody underwear was probably a big fucking clue, even if I hadn't told him to take his movie night and go fuck himself.

Anyway, he came to my room… I think it was Wednesday, and started to say something, but stopped. Started again, and stopped again. Started, stopped, and then on his fourth try said, "Here. You're a smart girl I'm sure you can figure it out," and handed me a package of pads.

Thanks for the help Marcus. I really appreciate it.


	35. Chapter 35

_**Mako's Message:**__ Sorry to keep you all waiting so "long". Funny story. I had this entire chapter written out in my head by the time I was done with work on Saturday, but when I got home and sat down to write the only thing in my head was so I had to pretty much start from scratch which was a pain and annoying as hell. It's the third longest chapter though, so that's something right? And maybe, just maybe, my harshest critic will think something happened. Knowing him though, I doubt it. ;-)_

_Anyway, I hope you enjoy the chapter and that you'll let me know what you think of it, even if you didn't.  
_

* * *

This Saturday I talked Angela and Jessi into coming to Atomic Comics with me.

When they resisted I told them that if they can make me sit through discussions of Glee then they can come to the comic shop with me. They didn't really have anything to say to that.

Marcus was all too happy to see me off with a couple of girls from my school. He even gave me some extra cash. I guess he considers it encouragement to go do things that are normal for my age.

When we got there I spotted Marty and Todd at their usual booth and brought Angela and Jessi over to introduce them.

Marty and Todd tensed up as soon as they saw me, but as I slid into the booth I said, "Don't worry, your balls are safe," and they both let out a relieved sigh.

Todd said, "It's nice to have you back to normal." He hesitated before adding, "You were pretty scary there for awhile."

I just sort of chuckled at that, after all, he's never seen me when I _really_ want to kill people, but I just said it was nice to be back to normal, and that he'd be ready to stab people too if he had to spend three days bleeding out of his dick.

Todd and Marty had these absolutely gorgeous expressions of mixed mortification and horror. Angela… Angela's eyes were the size of tennis balls and her face turned beat fucking red. Jessi was sitting on the edge of the booth with her mouth and eyes shut tight, shaking with suppressed laughter.

God I love fucking with people.

So I finally got around to introducing my friends to each other, and then I took Angela and Jessi around the store and see if we could find anything they liked.

Angela ended up sitting down with Strangers in Paradise, and Jessi picked out, of all things, fucking WATCHMEN. I sat there and asked her point blank, "Don't you think that's a little heavy for you?"

She just said "If you're going to do something, you should do it right." and dove right in.

Wasn't gonna argue with her. I mean, I was eight when I read that. I'm sure she should be able to handle it at thirteen.

As we were leaving I heard Todd say, "I liked her." I didn't hear which one he was talking about though.

On the way back, Angela admitted that hanging out at a comic store had been pretty fun. I asked her if she'd like to come with me another time and she said she would.

Jessi wanted to go back, but felt kind of guilty about it, since she wanted to finish reading Watchmen but there was no way she could afford to buy it.

Maybe I could get it for her for Christmas or something.

What's one more gift I'd have to hide from Marcus?

That night Dave called to see if I was interested in going for another Sunday morning run. I told him I'd love to, but I wouldn't be able to hang out much afterwards, since I still had a pile of homework to do before Monday.

He said he didn't mind because he had to work in the evening anyway. Yeah. I bet he didn't mind… I'll finish that thought later.

He picked me up and we went out to the same track as we did last time. I didn't wear the weights this time though, I thought of something even better to taunt him with.

I ran in circles around him.

I still made him sing though. I wasn't picky this time. I let him sing whatever he wanted so long as he sang.

After a minute or two I finally had to stop him and ask, "What the hell are you signing?"

He looked kind of sheepish for a minute before saying, "I'll Be Ready"

"What the hell made you pick that?"

"Uh…my Dad found a Baywatch marathon last night. It's been stuck in my head since."

"Baywatch?"

"Uh, yeah. It was a show about lifeguards, ran for about a decade. It ended a couple years before you were born." That's when his face turned into this disgusted expression, "You're making me feel old and I wasn't even old enough to watch it by the time it ended."

I just smirked at him and said, "Good point. Maybe we should cut the run short. Don't want to over work that old man heart."

"Shut up."

I kept laughing as I ran along with him. I kept it up after it stopped amusing me because it seemed to be motivating him to keep it moving. After awhile though, about half way, even at the pace we were moving, the running circles around Dave thing was starting to wear me out. Dave seemed to be okay, probably because he wasn't trying to keep up with me this time.

So I decided to go for a ride.

Dave was… surprised when I leapt on to his back, but he stayed on his feet, "Mindy! What the hell!"

"Just consider it part of your training." I wrapped my legs around him and then kicked my heels into his sides, "Now get moving!"

He didn't manage to run much after that, but damnit he tried. We ended up just talking about school and comics and shit for the rest of the course. Every once and while I'd spur him on with a kick to the ribs and a reminder of, "You stopped running"

I think I enjoyed it a little too much though. I kept having to fight the urge to lean over and nibble on his ear. Towards the end of the course I asked him, "How are you at taking a fall?"

He said, "Uh… probably not too good. Why?"

"Just thinking about what to train you in next."

When we got back to where we left the car and Dave said it was time for me to let go, I said, "Okay, going down," before I hooked my legs up over his shoulders and around his neck. He had just enough time so say, "Shit!" before I flipped him.

We landed with my legs still around his neck and his head on my stomach. He gasped out, "Fuck Mindy! What the hell?"

"Like I said, just think of it as training," I reached out and patted him on the head, "You did very good. You didn't even get the wind knocked out of you."

I really didn't want to let go of him. This was another of those things I was enjoying more than I should have. I liked having him so close, it sent these shivers through me that I haven't had since I put the costume away. I kind of had to at that point though.

Besides, having his head that close to my crotch was starting to be more awkward than thrilling.

We stopped for lunch before he took me home and then it was straight to the books for me. I did take a break for My Little Pony though.

At school on Monday I ate lunch with Angela, Jessi and… this other girl whose name I should probably learn but until then I'll call her "Snooki". I usually zone out when they start talking about boys, but this time I had some interest in what they were talking about. I kept my eyes on my comic though, no need to let them know I suddenly care. Well, I don't care. I'm just curious about what their thoughts on guys are.

And they are all over the map.

There wasn't a single guy that any one of them were focused on. They thought some of the same boys were cute, and the liked most of the same celebrities, but as far as I could tell there wasn't one person that any of them liked above all the rest. I mean, I can look at other guys and think they're cute, and there are some movie stars I like, but for some reason any time I start having _those_ sorts of thoughts my mind always seems to turn to Dave. Yeah, he's a pretty good looking guy, but he's not some god among men. There are definitely better looking guys out there. So why do I keep thinking about Dave?

Well, at least I know it's not just me. Katie is totally into him and it couldn't be more obvious that Riley wants to jump him.

I guess now is a good time to talk about that.

Marcus, apparently, has a sweet tooth, and has been wanting to get back to NYBC to try some more of their sundaes. So after school on Wednesday, Marcus asked if I wanted to go and get some ice cream. And I guess I have a bit of one too, because I couldn't pass that up. When we got there, it was maybe an hour after Dave's shift started. But I still heard her voice coming from the back

Marcus stopped to look at the menu bored, but I went right up to the counter and when Dave came out I practically climbed onto the counter to get in his face to ask, "What is she doing here, I thought you were certified."

He said, "Well, she works the shift before me, and when she doesn't have any other plans she likes to just hang out here."

How often does this happen? Does she really just stay after work to see him? Does Katie know about this? What is she doing with him in that back room?

According the Dave the answers are "A couple times a week", "I guess", "Yes", and "Homework, mostly."

Yeah. Mostly my ass. If I ever find out he's cheating on Katie I'll make him regret it. I wont tell Katie though. Mostly because I don't want her to rip Dave's balls off.

My night out with Dave was mostly gun cleaning, since we had a lot of that to catch up on. But we squeezed in some exercises and a quick spar. I think he's starting to plateau. Which is kind of disappointing. I was kind of excited to see just how good he'd get and how quickly he'd get that good. All I really have to go on is how well he does against me though, so it may just be that I'm getting better against him so he's not doing as well against me. Either way I guess I don't have to worry about him catching up to me anytime soon.

I think that's pretty much it for this wee oh my god how could I forget that!

I got a notification that my gift for Dave arrived, I was worried that they'd need a signature, or that they couldn't leave it at a box in a P.O. Box. Apparently they didn't (or they accepted the signature of a post office employee) and they can leave a package. I'm so glad this worked out. Well, it has so far at least. This was always something Daddy handled, and we never needed to have things shipped to a P..

Now I just need to get to the post office soon and without Marcus noticing.

* * *

_**Mako's Message the 2**__**nd**__**: **__My Harshest Critic started posting stuff on this site again. His name is Xantar. Go see if anything he's written interests you._


	36. Chapter 36

_**Mako's Message:**__ So… Let's talk current events. Osama Bin Ladden was killed on May 1__st__(Mayday mayday!). This is awesome. I could give you a list of reasons why, but I wont. I will however say that I have a little over five "months" to figure out what Mindy will have to say about this. Which is unfortunate, since it'll feel weird to have her excitedly rant about it when she get's here… that is a really weird concept to think about… hmm… perhaps I should try to come up with a May Day Holiday Bonus… Eh. No. That'd be…lame._

_Anyway, due to an erratic work schedule over the last two weeks that I expect to continue for the foreseeable future, and the children return home from their…vacation, the updates may suffer in frequency and quality. Hopefully this won't be the case, but just a heads up._

* * *

God damn. Are we really only one week into December? One fucking week? It feels like I've been seeing Christmas decorations for a month. Hell, I probably have. I wouldn't be surprised if it started after Halloween.

It's funny, the last time I checked, I actually liked Christmas. Hell, I've liked pretty much every Holiday. I was just never slammed face first in to them. I'd been an observer. The Holidays went on around me. I watched them happen. I wasn't surrounded by them.

And dear god Christ am I surrounded.

All the decorations at school, in the neighborhood, the adds, and the music. Dear god the music. Marcus has the radio playing on the All-Christmas-Music station. All the time. Everyday.

With Daddy, we just had a plastic tree we put up every year. That was pretty much it. We barely watched any TV at all so we only saw a few adds each year. The only time we really did get much Christmas was when we went out shopping.

Now… now it's everywhere. I'm surrounded. I'm already going nuts and there's still two more weeks until Christmas.

Still haven't been able to get Dave's present either.

I wonder if he's getting me anything… We never talked about it, I just decided to get him something. I know he and Katie will be exchanging gifts. Will he be getting gifts for Marty and Todd? Should I? Probably. I should get presents Angela and Jessi… fuck Snooki. I'll get Katie a card. Of course I need to get Marcus something, I just have no idea what.

Will Marcus give me money to get people gifts though, or will I have to dip into my stash? How would I explain how I got Marcus' gift if we won't give me money to get him one? I guess I could just make him breakfast or something and keep whatever else I get hidden from him.

My god this is a pain in the ass.

At least I have my night out with Dave. One night a week that I get to be myself.

God I wish we could go out more. I keep trying to just be a normal girl, I really am. I think I'm getting closer to it, but I'm not a normal girl. I just want to scream sometimes. I feel so free with him. Of course, when I'm alone with him, I have to fight off urges to jump him, but that's kind of fun.

I just want to get to christmas. All this craziness will end. No more insane work loads. No more adds. No more fucking Christmas music. I'll have a nice winter break. Hopefully see Dave more. Start a fresh new year for my new life.

Bleh.


	37. Chapter 37

_**Mako's Message:**__Sorry about the decline in the rate of posting. Life has been rather exhausting. This story is still the most recently updated though, and it hasn't been a week yet so I can't really feel too guilty. Rate of update is pretty much the only thing I have going for me._

_Anyway, I didn't talk much about what went on during the rest of the week, but just so you know, this DOES take place more or less a week after Ch36. Anyway, hope you enjoy and I'll be responding to last chapters reviews now._

_Oh, the website I mentioned is based on... well, two real ones. The World Super hero Registry( worldsuperheroregistry dot com) and Real Life Superheroes(reallifesuperheroes dot org). The first one does't seem to have been updated in at least a year, but RLS is very active, they're both worth a look though._

* * *

Jessi took me aside today because she wanted to show me something. She said she was sure I'd love it because I'm "into those real superheroes and stuff."

I didn't really think I'd done anything to make her think that, but I guess I haven't really shown much interest in anything aside from comics. I guess real life superheroes isn't that big of a jump.

The site was called The Real Super Hero Registry.

It had little profiles on anybody who put on a costume and gave themselves a name. It had real ones for people who'd actually done something. If they were mentioned in any sort of news media there were links to the article or the video. There were forums, and articles about being a super hero. It was interesting, seeing some of the home brew equipment people came up with, and their advice on being a hero. Some of it wasn't that bad surprisingly. One of the guys said hockey pads were a better bet than springing for Kevlar, since you're more likely to be fighting guys with knives and pipes than guns.

Probably true if you're going for small game criminals.

But what really caught my attention, was the three featured profiles.

Kick-Ass.

Hit Girl.

Big Daddy.

The Big Daddy profile was actually more of memorial. Apparently Dave had sent them a message letting them know what happened to him, since the page had previously listed his fate (along with mine) as unknown. They managed to attribute some of our actual actions to him, but only because they pretty much gave us credit for any dead mobsters in the last five years.

I had to keep a real tight grip on myself as we looked through it. There were all sorts of memorial tributes; drawings, stories, photoshopped pictures. I almost lost it. Just the idea that so many people wanted to make these tribute for him, not knowing anything of him before that night, almost made me crack. It would have been hard to explain that to Jessi.

Despite almost breaking down looking at all the Big Daddy tributes, it was kind of cool to see my page. I guess Dave told them my name was "Hit Girl" as well as what happened to Daddy, maybe even more of what happened at the warehouse. I don't think he mentioned our assault on D'Amico's penthouse though. If he did I'm pretty sure it would have been mentioned on my page. These people would have loved that story and never let it go if they heard it.

It also would have meant he admitted that Kick-Ass killed people. I don't think he'd do that.

Didn't stop people from speculating though, after all, they both happened the same night.

I have mixed feeling about some of the art of me. Some was actually really good ( I think I might get one of them for my wallpaper…) but there were some that were… well, they were "safe for work" but I most definitely don't have tits, so they were kind of weird to look at. There were two pictures though were I had breasts that I could completely excuse and that's because they were barely noticeable and where obviously there to imply that I was older than I looked. Possibly because they didn't(couldn't?) believe a pre-teen did all that.

Heh. Fools.

Anyway, it seemed a lot of people wanted to know what happened to me after that night. All Kick-Ass would tell them though was that I was alive and well.

I might join this site… I mean, if Dave can, why not? Maybe I could write some articles on what it's like to be in the field and what kind of training is important. Or how to get blood out of your cape. That seems like the sort of article they'd like.

I don't know why Dave decided to contact them about what happened, but seeing everything they put up in honor of Daddy was sure worth it. I'm going to have to find some way to thank him.


	38. Chapter 38

_**Mako's Message:** So, I got an interesting review that gives me reason to clear something up, even if it's not needed. The website mentioned in the previous chapter, and all the heroes listed on it, came AFTER Kick-Ass. This is why his profile is given special priority. Big Daddy and Hit Girl also received places of honor for being "the real deal" and in Big Daddy's case, dieing in the line of duty._

_The actual website The World Super Hero Registry has been around for far longer. I'm convinced it's been at least a decade, but I could be wrong. RealLifeSuperheroes, however, is fairly new and, it seems, run by The Dark Guardian, one of the most bad ass Reals I've seen.  
_

_As for this chapter... it's nothing really different from other's in terms of length or purpose. It does put some more wind in the sails of the SS Dave/Mindy but other than that...  
Anyway, as always, let me know what works for you, what doesn't, and why._

* * *

So have I mentioned that I hate buses? Because I do. I really do. They're loud, uncomfortable, usually crowded, and even when the don't smell disgusting I still don't like the way they smell, and I had to take four today. I wish the damn PO Box wasn't so far away, but that was kind of the point. The further the drop site is from your home base the harder it is to figure out where you are.

It was worth it though. At least, I hope it will be. Sitting here with this in my hands is making me wonder if I had the right idea about what to get Dave. Maybe I should have just gone ahead and gotten him a gift card to Atomic Comics like I did for Todd and Marty... No, that would have been too impersonal and I don't want him to think he's on the same level as them. He deserves better than that anyway.

I owe him so much. Without him as as pressure release valve I probably would have snapped by now and smashed up the living room before running away and living a life on the run. Well, maybe not. I can't talk to Angela and Jessi about the same things I can talk to Dave about, but if I'd still made friend with them then maybe I wouldn't have snapped.

Actually, I think Angela might have only talked to me because I was hung out with Katie, so if I didn't have Dave I wouldn't have Angela and Jessi. I really owe Dave a lot. Sometimes I think that if Dave didn't have Katie I'd give myself to him. If he wanted me, that is, and why would he? I'm nothing special. He's got Katie and then there's Riley if he and Katie ever broke up. Why would he want a skinny, flat chested thing like me?

I still think about it though.

Like, this last week, I thought it'd be fun to try some grabs and holds. I mean, if this is self defense training the he'll need to know what to do if someone grabs him, right? Yeah, well, that didn't work out too well. I got so hot and flushed that Dave was worried I was starting to get sick. I guess it's good he decided to call it an early night; after having our hands all over each other I don't know if could've stopped myself from pinning him. Though, he'd fight back... he'd probably flip me over, counter pin me, and then... oooooh kay enough of those thoughts.

Anyway, I picked up a copy of Watchmen for Jessi. It wasn't as expensive as I'd thought from what she'd said about never being able to afford it. But whatever. I'm sure she'll love it. I wasn't sure what to get Angela, so I figured on a gift card for her as well since I know she loves to shop. I didn't have any idea where to get it for though. Turns out you can get a gift certificate for the mall itself that's good anywhere in it, so that's all settled. I got Katie a nice card, so all that's left is to figure out what to get Marcus... Maybe a CD or something... I don't know. He deserves to have more thought put into it than just getting him a giftcard.

I still haven't figured out what I want to do to thank Dave for telling people about Big Daddy. What I really want to do is kiss him for it. Really kiss him. It's the only thing that feels appropriate. I just don't think I could do it and convince him it was just a thank you kiss. Or stop.


	39. Chapter 39

_**Mako's Message:**__ Time for more pimping! _Dangerous Beauty_ made an amazing video inspired by _**this very fic**_. Go to _vimeo (dot) com (forward slash) 23657599 _Go watch it and taste, hear, and see awesome!_

_Other than that, well, It's Christmas Eve! yay. Hope you enjoy it, but the big stuff isn't for another chapter. I'm sure you'll find something you'll like in this chapter though. Let me know if you don't._

* * *

Looking back I'm surprised I didn't talk about this. I mean, it's not like it was a last minute surprise. Marcus's family has come to visit for the holidays. His parents, his brother and his wife, and his niece and nephew arrived yesterday and they'll be staying until New Years. I'm not enjoying them being here. They're nice enough, I guess, but it means the mask has to be on pretty much twenty-four-fucking-seven. And I don't mean the good mask either.

His parents are pretty nice, though grandpa smells really heavily of cigar smoke. They treat me like their long lost granddaughter, which is kind of weird for me since I was four years old the last time I saw them and don't really remember them. But they knew me as a baby, and then when I went back to Daddy we kind of disappeared so they'd missed seeing me on holidays and get-togethers and stuff, so I guess I can understand where they're coming from.

His brother, Carl, is kind of cool, though he wants me to call him "Uncle Carl" and that just seems kind of weird. It's not like with grandpa and grandma, since well, everyone else either calls them "dad" or "grandpa" so it just feels natural. "Aunt" Jasmine is nice too, though she seems to be disappointed that I'm a "tomboy".

I like their son, Delton, he's like six or something and he loves roughhousing with me. Jasmin kept trying to get him to stop, but it was fun for both of us so she let it go. I think he keeps it up just to see how I flip him around. He thought it was hysterical when I held him up by his ankles. Jasmine wasn't that amused, at least until she saw we really where just playing. Carl was impressed by my strength and we actually had a talk about strength training. He's a fire fighter so it's important for him, more so than it is for Marcus.

My "cousin" Kiara however… I'm not fond of. She keeps trying to tease me about things, and treating me like I'm eight or something. She's just so fucking full of her self. So what if she's fifteen? That doesn't give her any right or reason to treat me like a child. I'd like hold _her_up by her heels. Right out a fucking window.

Anyway, I was able to talk Marcus into letting me keep my room, but I have to share it with Kiara. Grandma and Grandpa sleep on the fold out couch in the living room, and Carl, Jasmine, and Delton sleep on air mattresses in the basement work out room. It'll be a weird Christmas.

Speaking of which, I'm hiding from Marcus's Chrismas eve party. I don't know when he started throwing them, but apparently they're real popular with the force. Pretty much everybody there is a cop and Carl is trying to arm-wrestle his way through every single one of them. Delton, Kiara, and grandma and grandpa went out to see a movie. They invited me along but I opted out, preferring to not be stuck in a car with Kiara, so I've been sitting here in my room texting Dave.

Since we went over to Dave's house for Thanksgiving, Marcus wanted to return the favor and have them over for Christmas dinner. Mr. L was happy to accept, and was asked to bring some of those sausages as well. I don't think Marcus wants them for Christmas dinner, he's just using it as an excuse to ask him to make more.

I hope Dave and Mr. L get along with the rest of "my family". Mr. L probably won't have any problems, he and Marcus get along pretty well. I don't think Marcus' family is any harder to relate to… Kiara will probably find something to be a bitch about towards Dave though.

I've been waiting to give Dave his present since I'll be seeing him on Christmas, though it probably would have been easier when we were out the other night. I gave Todd and Marty their gifts though. They liked them and were really grateful, though they didn't have anything for me. Katie liked her card and had one for me too. It said, "Hope your Christmas is KICK-ASS!." And it had a drawing of Kick-Ass grinning and giving a thumbs up in a Santa hat. Dave wasn't amused. Katie seemed to think it was hilarious though. I don't know what made her pick that card, I'm sure it will be though, since I get to spend Christmas with the real thing and she's going out of town to visit relatives again.

Jessi and Angela's reactions couldn't have been more different(at first). Angela hugged me so hard I couldn't breathe while jumping up and down squeeing. I guess a hundred dollars was a little much. Jessi didn't want to accept the gift though. I don't know why, but I convinced her to just take it. When I finally convinced her to take it, she made Angela's hug look tame. She pretty much exploded and hugged me with both arms and a leg, and was rubbing her face against me like a cat on crack. I swear, the girl practically humped me in the lunch room.

When I finally pried her off of me she apologized for the hug and for not having anything for me.

Some dick yelled, "Do it again!" and the only thing that saved his tunk was Angela pulling me back to give me her present; a friendship bracelet. A really nice one with semi precious stones and everything. Apparently she's only given out three like this and Jessi has one, so I guess I should feel honored by it. I honestly just felt kind of surprised that she gave me something like that. I've only known her for, what? Three months?

Actually, now that I'm thinking about it, it's really nice to know that Angela value's me as a friend that much. I didn't think I was anything special, just one of a dozen friends… ya know, I don't really see her hanging out with many people other than Jessi and occasionally Snooki even though I do see her talk to a lot of people…

Well, it's getting late and the party seems to have slowed down. I guess I'll go get something to eat and try to get to sleep before Kiara comes back.


	40. Chapter 40

_**Mako's Message:**__ So close to being my longest chapter, yet so far. Anyway, there are a few things in here that I think a lot of you have been wanting to see for awhile so I'll just let you get to it._

* * *

So, today was...eventful.

I was up earlier than usual so I decided to go down hit the weight room before anyone else was up. Surprisingly Carl was up as well and already there. He yawned in the middle of saying good morning to me. When I asked why he was up if he was that tired, he just shrugged and said it was a force of habit.

As I went over to the pull up bar he asked, "So do you spend a lot of time down here?"

"Sometimes," I said, "A girls got to keep in shape."

"Oh no. Don't tell me you're going all boy crazy already are you? You're, what? Eleven now?"

I have to admit, it's always weird when they talk like I've come back into their lives when it feels like I'm meeting these peoples for the first time. I'm starting to get used to it though, and I'm coming up with some vague memories from when I was toddler. I think. Anyway, I told him, "No, nothing like that. There's just monsters out there and you have to be able to defend yourself."

He set his weights down and looked at me, "Oh come on. I mean, I know it's New York and everything but are you really that worried about 'monsters'"?

I let go of the bar turned to him, "Marcus didn't tell you?"

"Tell me what?"

"I was attacked at school. On my first day these two bullies tried to steal my lunch money, I fought back and they went down some stairs and had to go to the hospital. When they got out, one ambushed me at school with a pipe. He knocked me unconscious and kept beating and kicking me. He even dislocated my hip. It still gives me problems every now and then."

Carl sat down, "I don't know weather I should be horrified that happened or impressed with how you're handling it."

I smiled and shrugged, "I was raised tough."

We talked more as we went though a light work out, waiting for everyone to wake up, and Marcus to get back from his shift.

When we went back up Delton was playing with some hot wheels that where in his stocking and Kiara was laying back on the couch with her laptop and peeling an orange. Jasmine was still sleeping it seemed. Guess she was up late getting presents ready.

I sat down and played with Delton while Carl got himself some coffee and started cooking breakfast. When Jasmine woke up we sat down to eat. Honestly, it was weird. Because I was sitting in my home, at the table I've eaten at hundreds of times over the last six months, but it felt like I was the one who didn't belong here. They were a family and anyone could just look at them and tell they where. It felt like I was the guest. But then, I still catch myself looking around the house like I just got there sometimes.

Carl took that time to tell everyone about my stay in the hospital, and Grandma made huge fuss over me. I don't know why, it's obvious I'm okay. It's not like I'm still using crutches. Carl got that, why couldn't Grandma?

Kiara took the time to ask what I did to earn the beating.

I glared at her and said, "I threw him and his friend down some steps for fucking with me."

The table fucking _exploded_. Grandma totally spazed over my language, and Jasmine covered Deltons ears, Grandpa laughed, and Carl wanted to laugh but was trying to be stern about it. Grandma spent a good five minutes telling me that a young lady shouldn't use language like that.

I told her I wasn't a little lady.

It didn't help.

So, that was what Marcus came home to; Grandma and Jasmine lecturing me on my language and me sitting on the couch rolling my eyes. When they confronted him about my language, he just told them flat out that my language was not a priority.

After Marcus ate and drank an entire pot of coffee we sat down to open presents.

I got some CD's from Carl and Jasmine. It was a pretty scatter present. The there were two I think I'm going to enjoy. One by Three Days Grace, which I already know I'm going to enjoy listening to, and one by Justine Bieber, which will make really pretty debris when I use it for target practice.

I got some nice clothes from Grandma and Grandpa. I guess they asked what my favorite colors were because they were all shades of purple and pink. Some where hot pink though and those wont see the light of day, but there was a pale pink sweater that I liked.

I got a bike from Marcus. He said he was proud of how well I was doing (he belatedly added "in school.") and thought I'd earned a little more freedom. He thought I'd like being able to go see my friends without needing a ride.

Being able to see Dave at will? Hell the fuck yeah. And Dave rode his bike pretty much everywhere before he got his license, so now that I have one maybe we'll be able to go on those Sunday morning runs every week now. I really enjoy those, and they'd be a huge help to Dave's endurance.

Oh, and my stocking had a gift card to Atomic Comics, the first book of The Vampire Diaries ( Not sure if I like it yet, it's fuck tons better than Twilight though.), and some My Little Pony patches (Rarity, Rainbow Dash, and Pinkie Pie) for my packpack. I'll use the Rainbow Dash one I guess, but I wish Fluttershy had been part of the set. Love Fluttershy.

I ended up getting Marcus a John Woo double feature DVD. I don't know if he really liked it or if that was a "of course Mindy would get me this" grin. I really didn't know what else to get him. I mean he has all the latest CDs from the artists he likes, what was I supposed to do? Get him a tie?

Anyway, Delton spent the rest of the day playing with his new toys and Kiara just sat on her computer bitching about shit on Twitter while the adults started cooking dinner so it was quiet until Dave and Mr. L got here.

I didn't think the introductions would take long, but they all seemed to want to talk to Dave. I guess they were surprised my best friend was sixteen. Marcus and Mr. L went off to talk and Dave was being interrogated, so I ended up sitting by myself and starting on my book.

Dave finally got free and came over to sit with me and ask how my first holiday with "family" (the quotes were his not mine.) was. So we sat and talked about what a bitch Kiara was, about talking with Carl in the workout room, and the explosion when I said "fucking".

Dave thought it was hilarious, after he finished laughing he said, "Well, they just need to get used to you. It's just one of those things that makes you you, and honestly, I wouldn't have it any other way."

That's when I decided to give him his gift. The adults were all talking so it seemed like the perfect opportunity anyway.

I took him up to my room saying, "This is something I need to give you in private" and locked the door before telling him to go sit on the bed. I kneeled down on the floor next to him and pulled the case with his gift out from under the bed.

I gotta admit that I was really nervous. It seemed like such a perfect gift at the time, then, seconds away from handing it to him, I was starting to wonder if he was actually going to like it. I took a deep breath said, "Merry Christmas," and practically shoved it at him.

He seemed excited by it, "Wow. What is this Mindy?"

I was like, "Just open it dummy," and punched him in the leg.

When he opened the lid his eye were as wide as saucers and his jaw hit the floor, "Mindy!"

I was so paranoid at that point so I immediately assumed he was angry at me, "I'm sorry, it was stupid-"

"No no. This is amazing," and he pulled out his brand new, fresh off the assembly line, Smith&Wesson Bodygaurd38 with integrated laser sight, "What made you decide to get this?"

I was so relieved that he liked it I almost started laughing hysterically, "I just wanted you to be safe. I mean, things would have been different if you'd had that the night we met instead of that pussy little tazer, ya know?"

He flipped the cylinder out, spun it, flipped it back, checked the sights, and said, "Yeah, if I'd had this, things would have been different."

"So you like it?"

"I love it," he said as he put it back in it's case.

I was so relieved. When he opened it I was worried he was going to flip out on me or something.

He looked at his watch then and said, "Let me go get yours. It's something we should keep private as well, lock the door behind me.

When he left I realized I was still sitting on my knees in front of the bed so I ran to go lock it before someone, like Kiara, could try to come in. After about a minute he knocked on the door saying to let him in.

He squeezed in as soon as I had the door open with a big white bag. He stood at the far side of the room with his back to me, and it looked like it was his turn to be nervous.

"Okay, so, this…" he started to say, "I… well, you know I was pretty much broke until recently, and I wanted to help pay some bills, and of course gas for the car was expensive."

It was cute, but I had to stop him, "Dave, I know you don't have a lot of money, I'm sure whatever you got me will be fine."

He muttered something and then turned to hand me the bag.

I smiled as I took it, it was kind of fun watching him squirm(especially after how nervous I was), and reached into the bag. What I pulled out I at first thought was a statue of Batman but then I realized the colors were wrong.

I almost dropped the statue when I realized what I was holding.

A statue of Big Daddy.

I fell back on the bed in shock, "Where did you get this?"

He hesitated for a second before saying, "I made it."

I looked at him and back to the statue, not really believing it, but you can see that it was a Batman statue at one time. The ears had been cut off and sanded down, it looked like he'd tried to do the same with the symbol on the chest but apparently gave up on it and just painted over it he replaced the cape, changed the logo on the belt, he even painted on a mustache.

"How did you do this?" I asked him.

He just shrugged, "It just looked up figurine modification online. This is nothing compared to what some people have done."

"Yes it is. Nobody else did one as thoughtful as this." And I got up and hugged him.

He hugged me back and said, "I'm glad you like it."

"I love it."

He chuckled then, "You're gonna have to hide it though. I don't know if you want to explain it to your roommate."

I grunted in disgust, "Fuck. I can't stand her."

"Well, she'll only be here for a few more days, right?"

"Yeah, a few more days too long."

"Well, I could always use something to test my new gun out on."

"I like the way you think!" and as he loaded his gun I grabbed a couple of my own from under the bed.

Okay okay, Those last two lines were just what I WISHED happened. What really happened was we were asked to come down and help put dinner on the table.

Dinner was a bit more lively than Thanksgiving was. Marcus and Mr. L (Who had started calling each other "Marc" and "Caz") were familiar with each other and getting along rather well. We ended up telling the story about my hospitalization again when it was mentioned that Dave had saved me. Jasmine didn't seem too pleased with the violence of it, but Delton was very impressed, "You're like a super hero!"

I laughed to myself as I stirred my peas into my potatoes. Dave just grinned and said, "Yeah. I guess I am."

Marcus grimaced and covered his eyes with his hands. Mr. L asked, "Headache?"

"You could say that."

After dinner Delton was getting tired of playing and just wanted to watch some TV and the adults wanted to talk about…whatever. Kiara was still ignoring pretty much everybody so Dave and I were pretty much all to ourselves. We ended up just talking in the kitchen while Dave picked at the leftovers. He was enjoying the food way too much. I've never seen him put it away like that. I kept thinking he was going to puke after each mouthful.

Even if he did I don't think that would have stopped him.

Grandpa walked by to check on Delton, then went back to the dining room. We heard him say, "Guess what's coming on next? 'The Night They Saved Christmas'."

Marcus and Carl seemed interested, "Are you serious?"

"I thought they stopped showing that years ago?"

"You want to watch it?"

"Of course I do. I haven't seen that in…what? Fifteen…twenty years?"

When they walked back through we were invited to come watch the movie with them. Dave looked at me and I shrugged, so he said "Sure" and we squeezed in next to each other on the couch to watch a movie.

A movie about oil drilling at the north pole threatening to destroy the secret cave that holds santa's workshop.

It was kind of a weird movie. I've never seen a movie try to make santa so… scientific. He had a teleporter, rockets, and a time machine. I think the only thing they let be magic were the flying reindeer.

By the time the movie ended, grandma, grandpa and Delton were all asleep. Carl and Jasmine decided to take him to bed and call it a night as well. Mr. L said it'd been fun but time for him and Dave to get going. Marcus thanked him bringing the sausages (I was right, by the way, they never touched the table. They went straight into the fridge.) and said since everyone was going to sleep he should turn in as well, "I'm pretty much running on caffeine at this point anyway."

Mr. L was pretty much out the door before Dave said, "Hold on Dad, I need to get something from Mindy's room."

"I'll wait for you in the car."

Dave came down a minute later with the bag he'd brought my present in, with his present in it. He looked around and asked, "Is Marcus still around?"

"No. He went to bed before you went up to get that."

"So everyone is bed already?" he asked as he stepped out the door.

"Pretty much," I said, as I leaned against the door frame.

"Oh. Well, say goodbye to everyone for me… or something."

I snorted and said, "I will."

Then Dave started to turn around, then turned back saying, "By the way" and he leaned over and kissed me on the cheek. "Merry Christmas."

My whole cheek lit up like it was on fire. I was frozen in shock for a moment before I managed to choke out, "What was that for?"

He just smirked and pointed up, "Mistletoe"

I looked up and sure enough there was mistletoe fixed to the doorframe.

"Well, night Mindy. I'll text you tomorrow." He started to walk away and then I grabbed him and pulled him back, "Whoa! What is it?"

"Just shut up a second." I looked around and didn't see anyone, so I reached out and put my hands on his cheeks and pulled him down to my level. It took me a second of looking in to his eyes to take the next step.

"Mindy, what-"

And I kissed him. Full on the lips. For a long time. God it just felt so good. I wanted to wrap myself around him and never let go.

I did manage to rip myself away from him though. I was out of breath and my face was on fire, but I managed to stop.

Dave was in a state of shock. I don't think he was able to process what just happened and his brain crashed. It took him a minute to recover, but that was fine because it took me a minute pull myself together to.

"What was that."

"A thank you. For telling that site what happened to Daddy. And for not telling them anything about me. It meant a lot to me."

Dave brushed his hand across his lips, "I can tell."

Before it could get awkward I told him he should get going since his Dad was waiting for him. He agreed and said good bye and that he'd text me tomorrow again.

I said goodbye and Merry Christmas and closed the door and collapsed against it.

And that's when I saw Kiara standing there with the biggest fucking Joker grin ever, "Awww, has wittle Mindy got a cwush?"

For some reason what she said just drove me right past mad and straight into rage.

"I saw you two sneak off to your room. What where you doing in there, huh?"

I launched myself at her before she knew what the hell happened. I had her mouth covered, her arm twisted behind her back and her pinned against the wall in an instant. I growled into her eat, "Listen cunt, you don't talk about what you don't know anything about. If anyone hears about this, I will fucking kill you." And then I dropped her on the floor hard enough to hurt, but not hard enough to make any real noise. "I'll be in my room."

I still can't believe she said I had crush on Dave. I do not have a crush. I just want to fuck his brains out. There is a difference.

* * *

_**Mako's Message Cont.: **__So there we have it. Hope you all enjoyed it. Be sure to let me know what you all thought of it since it gave me a fair bit of trouble and I'd like to know if it worked out alright. _

_Now, on to something important: Who gets the bonus chapter._

_**2wingo: **__19 reviews_

_**Silo666: **__13 reviews_

_**JPElles:**__ 12 reviews_

_**Suto-Chan: **__14 reviews  
__**dogbertcarroll: **__16 reviews_

_**emochildlova: **__12 reviews_

_**Proponent of EVO: 15 **__reviews_

_**TorontoBatFan: **__19 reviews_

_**RobGill:**__ 17 reviews_

_**KuroiHanabixShenny:**__ 19 reviews_

_**Vanathor: **__14 reviews_

_**Galloway: **__10 reviews_

_**Doctor Deadpool: **__10 reviews(told you you were just in time)_

_I'll need e-mail address' from all the above named readers. If you want your bonus chapter that is. Just send them in a Private Message._

_In other news, there were 31 identifiable reviwers of this story (plus one anonymous reviewer) and I want to thank you all for taking the time to do so. It's always a help in knowing what to do with the story and a huge moral boost._

_Also, KD, if you're reading this, why don't you register? Then I can respond to your reviews and it'll be easier to know their your reviews._

_Oh, so, now that it's time for another Precocious Bonus, would you who are getting them like me to make the last one public? Or would you prefer to keep them to yourselves?_

_Anyway, same deal at Ch60  
_


	41. Chapter 41

_**Mako's Message:**__ I'm gonna say flat out that this is shorter than I intended it to be. Where this ends just felt like the right place to end it. The subject change just felt weird. I'll have another chapter up soon though. More after the story.  
_

* * *

Dave didn't say anything to me about the kiss. Which is good, because I didn't want to make anything big out of it. It was just… the best way I could think of to express how I felt about everything he'd done for me. I haven't received any texts about it from Katie, so he must not have told her. I hope he doesn't mention it to anyone, but especially not to Katie. Things are weird enough between us, I don't want make it more complicated by having her know I kissed her boyfriend.

I would so do it again though.

Dave did give me some strange looks when we went out this week though. They were just these little sideways glances and then he'd laugh to himself. I called him on it once and he said it was just because of me being me.

Don't know what that's supposed to mean but I'll take it.

We actually had a great time out that night. We got dinner as usual, but we decided to sit in and eat this time instead of taking it with us. I have to admit that I thought things might be weird between us after I kissed him, even though he did kiss me first(yeah it was on the cheek but still), but it hasn't really been any different at all. I mean, we ended up sitting in Taco Bell, just talking about stuff, for like, an hour.

When we got to the safe house we started right in talking about what we wanted to work on with our sparring. We started right in on it as soon as the door was closed, didn't change out of anything even. Though Dave did end up pulling his shirt off in the middle of it and went the rest of the night topless. That was nice.

The funny thing about all this is we totally forgot about why we originally started doing this. It wasn't until we were leaving that I suddenly realized, "We didn't touch the guns."

Dave looked back, and laughed once, "Well, we'll be sure to get them next week." And he tapped me on the shoulder, smiled, and turned to leave. I smiled at that. After all, he was right, we have plenty of time to take care of them, no need to worry about them _every_ week.

When I got home that night I found Kiara asleep in a chair in the living room. For the third time since Christmas.

I was in a good mood so I went over and woke her up, "If I wanted to kill you in your sleep you'd have to get further away than the living room. Your air mattress is still set up in my room. Sleep there."

She's still been avoiding me though, but I'm not gonna try and talk her out of _that_.

* * *

_**Return of Mako's Message:**__ After writing the last chapter, I had an interesting idea. I didn't really think it was something I wanted to put in Precocious Crush though. I also thought about how I keep getting suggestions, or mentions of what people would like to see… so I decided on something. _

I'm starting a contest.

_The Rules are simple:_

_-It must be a one shot_  
_-It must state that it was written for this contest._  
_-It must be submitted by e-mail by 12am May 29__th_

_-Submissions are to be e-mailed to me at the address provided in my profile. The e-mail is to contain the story, or a link to where the story is posted (The story may be posted on Fanfiction dot net, Live Journal, etc.).  
_

_The Subject:_

_Mindy Vs. The Bike: Mindy learns to ride a bike. (The story may be based in my ficverse or be completely original)_

The Prize:

_A Kick-Ass fanfic written by me. Subject matter chosen by the winner._

_The Winner will be chosen by me._

_Happy Writing._


	42. Chapter 42

_**Mako's Message: **__Exposition exposition[/singing] Right, well… yeah. This chapter has some stuff in it that I couldn't find a way to fit into previous chapters, so I just dedicated a chapter to it. Should amuse you anyway though__**.  
**_

* * *

It's funny how you can get something you want and then end up wishing you hadn't.

Right now for example, it's New Years Eve, and I'm wishing I hadn't kissed Dave.

If I hadn't kissed Dave, I wouldn't be sitting here in my room wishing I could do it again. Maybe I'd kiss him a few times. Or all night. Ya know. See what happens.

But no, Katie is back in town and he's spending the night with her.

All the adults are downstairs having a private party, Kiara locked herself in the workout room for some reason, and Delton is asleep already. It's actually given me some actual privacy for the first time in days, so I decided to take the time to dig into The Real Superhero Registry.

I looked over the profile page for Kick-Ass, and just like mine and Daddy's it had a lot of gaps (it _was_ made by other people after all), but there's a section on each page that says "Accomplishments". There are only three listed for Kick-Ass

-Saved a man from being beaten to death.

-Started The Real Superhero Movement.

-Pissed off The Mob

I love the last one. They don't know what he did, or who he did it to, but he pissed of the mob so it must have been awesome.

His status and mine are listed as "Retired" and Daddy's is "KIA"

He has some stories written about him as well, though they mostly seem to be people making up reasons for how he ended up tied to a chair and beaten on live stream. Some are pretty cool. I bet Dave wishes he'd done half of this stuff. It might have made it worth it.

He's also listed as public service/crime fighting. A lot of the people on the site seem to have "Public service" on their pages. Daddy and I seem to be two of the only three listed only as Crime Fighters. The third is Biker Knight.

His page is interesting. Where it usually lists a name, it just says "Unknown." There are a lot of name suggestions. Some were stupid, like "Sir. Fuckyouup". There were a few good ones like "Metal Avenger", "Sword Striker", and "The Silver Warrior" as well. I saw Dave suggested "The Shred Ranger" (At least I'm guessing that was Dave) and it seems to be one of the top three most popular suggestions. I guess I should sign up and throw "Biker Knight" in and see how that works out.

Apparently this guy likes his secrecy almost as much as Daddy did. There's been no word from him on anything. No interviews, no posts, he didn't register himself, and he's been real careful about cameras. The best footage of him was the security camera footage of him stopping the check cashing store robbery.

I liked some of the pictures people did of him. I was kind of jealous actually. The only people who did pictures of him were actually GOOD. I mean, there were good picture's of me, but there were a lot of bad ones too. Some looked like they were drawn by kids my age or younger. Which...was kinda weird. I'd like to think that parents wouldn't have let their kids watch that broadcast long enough to see me, but what can I say? This world is fucked up.

There was another hero listed as unknown. He seemed to be just as careful about cameras though, since there wasn't any video of him from closer than twenty feet. He wore a trench coat, a fedora, and (apparently) a ski mask. He didn't have anything under "Accomplishments" aside from, "Making crooks paranoid" because he seemed to have a knack for not being noticed until he was punching you in the face.

One of the videos, the best one fortunately, caught him at it. Some punks broke into a electronics store, and a parking lot camera caught him waiting hiding outside until they tried to leave. The first two he let walk right by him, but he grabbed the last one and kicked the second guy in one move. Before the first two could get back to try and help, he'd already kneed the last guy in the gut and then dropped and elbow on his neck, turning it into two on one before they even knew what was going on. The first guy had the sense to run for it and the second guy went down just as easily.

I think my Dad would have liked this guy.

The other thing he apparently does is...just helps people on the street. Some woman reported that he had helped her carry her groceries from her car. It got him the nickname "The Samaritan" It's a pretty even split between the people who like that name and those who want "Rorschach 2" I guess his costume is similar enough, but he sounds too nice for the name.

It really makes me want to go out there and show them how it's done. I bet Dave and I could really clean up these streets. After the training I've given him he might even be as good as The Samaritan. Hell I bet we'd have people lining up to work with us.

Fuck that'd be awesome. I always wanted to be part of a team of heroes, and now I bet I could have my pick of these guys…

I'd take Biker Knight, The Samaritan, The Guardian, Colonel Stars(yeah, he's old but he looks seriously bad ass and that dog!), and of course I'd have Kick-Ass with me.

…as long as I'm imagining I'd like a secret underground lair with a bad ass car and a spy satellite. And being able to fly would nice too.

* * *

_**Coming Attractions*:**_

"'_Todd really needs to let this go.'"_

"'_You Bastard! How could you do this to me!'"_

"_It was nice waking up next to Dave"_

"_Looks like I'll have to pay Jessi's friend a visit"_

_**Because I'm not a complete bastard**:**_

_As the door closed behind him he walked slowly to the car. His fingers reached up and lightly brushed against his lips. He could still feel hers pressed against him._

_He'd gotten "thank you" kisses from Katie before, and there was more to that than just a "thanks for everything," It was deeper than that._

_He got into the car, still lost in thought, "What's on your mind, Son?"_

"Oh, just thinking about something Mindy…said."

"Heh. That girl sure is a firecracker isn't she?"

Dave chuckled and turned to look out the window, "You have no idea."  
_

_* These should be in the next twenty chapters. The last bunch was for the entire story._

_** Utter lies  
_


	43. Chapter 43

_**Mako's Message:** Not much to say here, really. Not about this chapter at least. I will say that I'm very happy with the entries I've received so far and that even with just three it'll be a tough call, but I still hope to see some last minute entries. _

* * *

Dave said I scowl like a baby otter.

When I told him to explain, he said it means, "You're cute even when you're trying to look angry."

So, on the one hand, I am not cute when I scowl, I am frightening. On the other hand, he thinks I'm cute, and while I'd rather he think of me as so-hot-he-can't-keep-his-hands-off-me... I'll take cute. Besides, I know I'm not hot. I don't have the tits, the legs, or the ass for it. I'm thin and wiry. Strong, but there's not a single curve on me.

I guess my hair is nice, but that's not gonna do me much good.

There was also the text message waiting for me when I woke up on New Years Day. I got it at 12:30, just after I fell asleep. But it means that he was thinking about me even though he was with Katie.

It probably doesn't mean anything but I can pretend it does.

Anyway, the reason I was scowling was because we we're talking about our resolutions, and I'd mentioned that Marcus' was to get me into a dress. I didn't think it was that funny, but the others did. Katie was completely with Marcus on this one too. She said I'd look great in a dress and asked why I didn't wear them.

"Because I don't like girly shit," I told them.

She raised her eyebrow and looked at the Rainbow Dash patch on my backpack.

I told her, "Rainbow Dash isn't girly. She's awesome."

Katie just sort of smirked like this was some sort of joke only she was getting and went back to her homework.

I didn't make any resolutions, but Todd and Marty did. Marty was keeping his a secret, but Todd's was kind of.. odd: Become 20% cooler. I guess it could have been a coincidence, but "20% cooler" was a Rainbow Dash quote, so, does Todd was MLP: FiM too? I'll have to ask him in private sometime. I didn't think his fragile ego could take getting called out on watching a show for little girls in public. Maybe I'll just make a joke he'd only get if he watched the show...

Or maybe I'll just let him watch Ponies in peace. It's not like it's important or anything.

Dave's was to "Be able to run 3.25 miles without feeling like I'm going to die."

He hasn't talked to me about it, but I guess that means he want's to go for those runs more often. Maybe every week I'd love being able to get out of the house more, and I've been getting kinda lazy with my morning runs. This is just what I need to get the enthusiasm for it back.

Katie's was just to get As in all her classes. I thought she already did, but I'm not gonna toss away any proof that little miss perfect isn't so perfect.

Maybe I should make a resolution or the new year... like, "I will get Dave to kiss me." It's not what I really want, but you have to start small after all.


	44. Chapter 44

_**Mako's Message: **Once again starting with nothing yielded more materially than I expected._

_Anyway, I'm sure the real thing you want to know is who won the contest. That honor goes to _**TorontoBatFan**_. I liked all the fics, and it was a really close call between his and Haily C. Black's, but in the end _Mindy on Two Wheels_ was just the better fic. A round of applause for all the entrants please, and be sure to go read them if you haven't yet, they're all worth your time.  
_

* * *

Ya know how sometimes there's lot's of stuff going on, and it feels like a day lasts a week? And other times nothing happens and you're suddenly wondering where the last two weeks went? Well, maybe it's the other way around for you, but for me when nothing happens everything just blends together and I start losing track of days until I'm going, "That was a couple days ago wasn't it? What do you mean 'last week'?"

That's kind of what happened here. I sat down to tell you about what happened today and realized that the last thing I talked to you about was new year resolutions. I guess I should follow through on that a bit first.

Marty hasn't told anyone about his resolution, even though he got pressed on the issue a few times.

Turns out the class Katie isn't acing is Phys Ed. We're probably the only school that isn't Pass/Fail on things like that, but the coaches seem to like to push the students to be better than just "passing" They have the standards publicly posted. How many push ups, pull ups, crunches, and laps you have to be able to do to get each grade. Obviously I'm passing with flying colors.

Dave is as well. The coach embarrassed the hell out of him by calling him up and pointing out that he'd risen two grade levels since this time last year and wanted to know why if the comic nerd could do it why couldn't the rest of them?

I thought it was funny. Dave didn't. Apparently he didn't want the guys who used to beat him up to think they had something to prove. When I asked if he was really still afraid of them he said, "No, I just don't want to have to beat the shit out of them. "

Todd's was still an odd one. When I asked him why, "why 20% cooler?" all I could get out of him was that he was tired of being lame. I _know_ there's more to it than that, but I wasn't going to get more out of him without resorting to arm twisting.

And Dave suggested we go for a run every week now that we don't need the car to get places. It seems kind of weird now that I think of it, that we have more freedom with our bikes than we did with the car... but I guess it does make a sort of weird sense.

And speaking of riding our bikes... yeah... I didn't know I couldn't ride a bike. I mean, my balance, reflexes, and coordination are great, how could I know that wouldn't translate to riding a bike? Needless to say, my first time on a peddle bike did not go well. And that's all I'm saying about THAT debacle.

Getting to spend my Sunday mornings with him is worth it though. We ride together, we run, spar a little, then get breakfast.

He's seemed a lot happier lately too, His shifts at work got cut a bit since they're not getting the same kind of business as they were during the Christmas shopping season. He's still busy pretty much every night catching up with school work and stuff, but his mood has definitely improved and he doesn't seem as tired as he was.

I found out what Angela and Jessi's resolutions were. Angela wants to make the cheer squad in her freshman year, and Jessi want's to find a boyfriend. Nothing particularly special, but hey. Everything can't be exciting. And they're better than "I want to lose ten pounds" or some other stupid shit.

My resolution... gotta say it's not looking too good. Dave looks at Katie like he was handed a gift from god. I've got a year though... and I don't need to get him to dump her...just... cheat...a little. Yeah, that's not gonna happen.

Marus hasn't made a move yet... but I keep feeling like he's sizing me up so he can spring a dress on me.

Anyway, now that you're all caught up, today I went over to Angela's house. When I got there she and Jessi were on the computer and they immediately called out, :"Hey Mindy! Is there something you want to tell us?"

The obvious answer was, "No." but I was curious to see what they thought was so funny.

When I looked at the screen I saw my name in the search bar, and, and one of the suggestions it came up with was, "Mindy Mccready sex tape."

"Sure there's nothing you want to tell us?"

"Like why you used your real name?"

"Who was the guy?"

"Was he any good?"

I told them, "Yeah. I guess I do have something to tell you. My name is spelled MACready. M-A-C not M-C."

They laughed and typed it in properly. Would you believe the sex tape thing STILL came up? Unfortunately what also came up was an article about Daddy's arrest. I reached over and shut the window before they could read it.

They did see the link though, so of course they asked about it. I told them the charges were false and not to worry about it. They kept pressing, asking how long he was in prison, where was I, and of course my mother came up and that's when I told them to just drop it.

I shouldn't have let them search my name. I guess I just got too caught up in normal stuff and let me guard down. Stupid.

But it's okay. They let it go and promised they wouldn't look into it. I told them if they did I'd break all their fingers. I think they think I was joking, but it still seemed to get my point across. I hope it did at least. I don't want to break their fingers. I like them.

* * *

_**Mako's Message's Revenge: **Btw, the ever talented _DangerousBeauty84 made another Dave/Mindy video. Check it out: Vimeo dot com forward slash 24404586


	45. Chapter 45

_**Mako's Message: **Ya know what? I am really dissatisfied with this chapter. I started this on Friday and have been poking at it ever since and I just can't get it into shape. So, feel free to let me have it on this one. I'm not sure what's wrong with it, so I'll appreciate any feedback, constructive or flammable._

* * *

I never thought of Jessi as a shy person. She's always been loud, outgoing, and snarky. Hell, her public display of appreciation in the school cafeteria is a perfect example.

But lately she's been...well, shy. Almost nervous.

I guess it's because she's dressing kinda slutty lately. It's getting her a lot of attention. That was kind of the point though, wasn't it? I mean, she said she wanted a boyfriend and with Valentines day coming up she started trying to get one.

I don't know. I don't understand why she's dressing like that if it's making her uncomfortable. Why not just stop?

I guess it is getting her more attention from guys but... if it's making her...

I DON'T UNDERSTAND!

If she want's the attention what's the problem? If she doesn't want it why doesn't she just stop?

Angela is worried about it though. She thinks she's putting herself too far out there. I don't know. If I knew how to get a guy I'd have Dave. What she's doing seems to be working. She's talking to guys all the time. She just needs to pick one. Is it that complicated?

Anyway. Valentines day. It seems to be all the girls are talking about. It's still about two weeks off though. Katie is hounding Dave to make sure he has the the night off so they can make plans.

It's annoying as hell for me to watch, I can't imagine how hard it is for Dave to put up with.

"Did you talk to your manager? When will you know? Can you get your Dad's car or should I drive? Where should we go?"

It makes me want to hold a pillow over her face until she stops fighting.

Angela doesn't seem bothered by it though. I guess it's because her parents said she's too young to date so she's not bothering to get excited about it. So we've actually been hanging out a lot.

We went to the mall which was...fun. I guess. I wasn't really interested in shopping but it was nice to get out of the house and since we were there just to hang out I talked her into going into that knife store. There were so many sweet blades there. There where a lot of fantasy blades, like this one dagger that had a star shaped blade that curved, and the back end spread out into five hooks. I'd LOVE to see the look of horror on some junkies face if I pulled that on him.

There where some nice butterfly knives on display too. I was in the middle of trying to talk the guy into letting me try a couple out when I caught Angela smirking at me.

I asked, "What are you looking at me like that for?"

She said, "I thought you hated shopping."

I said, "I do." and went back to looking at the knives.

Erica seems to have decided to take Marty back. I'm not sure if she just doesn't want to be alone for Valentines Day or if she really likes Marty though.

Riley, surprisingly, was just being...pouty the last time I saw her. I thought she'd be trying harder than ever to steal Dave, but it was like she didn't even care. I wonder if she tried to make a move on him and he shot her down...

I don't know what I think though.

Valentines Day doesn't really excite me. I don't have any romantic interest in anyone... I mean, yeah, I'd like it if Dave wanted to spend the night with me, but I'd like it if he wanted to spend ANY night with me. Although, I'm thinking less candlelight diner and more twisted sheets.


	46. Chapter 46

_**Mako's Message:** Before I forget to mention this again, would any of you be interested in a message board for discussing this fic, or following me if I were to make a Twitter account? I'm gonna need an overwhelming majority to do either, but even more so for the twitter thing._

_Also, yes, I am trying to eat time. Even more so than before. In forty chapters I covered only 4 months. This fic will not reach it's climax until Mindy is at least 14. For those of you not keeping track, Mindy is currently **11**._

_Other than that, I hope I managed to show Mindy in a different light. Let me know if it was Success or Fail._

I don't know what I'm doing.

I'm just so confused about everything.

I'm sitting here...moping. I'm fucking moping and I don't even know why.

I just wish I had something to do. Instead of just sitting here.

I've seriously considered digging my costume of my bag and going out for a spin... I'd probably have to put it on after I got out into the city though. Hit Girl riding around on a bike would probably attract too much attention.

And I don't want to disappoint Marcus. He's been really proud of me for handling civilian life so well. Though, that's really only because of Dave. If we weren't going out and training I'd probably be climbing the walls.

And Dave of course want's me to have a normal life as well. He says I deserve it. That I've had enough violence and death in my life... I don't want him to disappoint him either.

Dave... why does it always come back to him? Why is he the only person I can really open up to? Why is he the only person I can be myself around? I don't have to hide anything from him.

Angela and Jessi are cool. I like them. We have fun. I still feel like I'm putting on act when I'm around them though. I can't even hang out with them tonight though. Jessi is on a Date. She finally decided on one of the junior varsity (whatever the hell that is) football players. He's pretty cute, I guess. Not sure what made her pick him though. He didn't seem any different than the dozen or so other guys that where hitting on her.

Angela is on a babysitting job. I'd be tempted to go give her some company, but the couple she's babysitting for specifically said that she wasn't allowed to to let anyone into the house, "under pain of...something painful"

They need to work on their threats.

Marcus is working.

And Dave is out on a date with Katie. Of course he is. Off to dinner, wherever they went to, then a stroll around the park, and finally home to bone his brunette barbie.

And me? I'm at home, laying on my bed... moping.

What the fuck is wrong with this picture?

U~~~~~~g~~~~~~~h!

Things were good yesterday.

Yesterday I got up early, got on my bike, and rode out to meet Dave before we went to the park for our run. We met up at convenience store where we picked up some gatorade and a couple power bars before heading off.

The ride was fun. We raced most of the way (Pretty much every time we're out together on our bikes we end up racing.) with a bit of "follow the leader" thrown in for fun.

The run went well, until the last quarter mile, Dave just couldn't keep it above a walk, so I kicked him in the ass and kept kicking him as long as he was moving slow enough for me to do it.

When we got to the finish he fell over into the grass and gasped out, "You are a cruel, cruel woman Mindy."

I just smirked and told him, "Then you must be a masochist since you keep coming back for more."

He laughed and said, "I think that was proven when I put the costume back on after getting stabbed and hit by a car."

"Well, are you ready for more?"

He let out one short, "hah" and then said, "Yes ma'am I'll have another."

And then we did our usual post run spar, though it had a little more wrestling around than was strictly necessary.

He finally gave in after I'd had him face down in the grass with his arm twisted behind his back for a couple minutes.

After that we just laid on the grass and finished off the last of our gatorade.

Dave fell asleep pretty quickly. After the first couple times I've come to expect it. I keep coming up with wonderfully naughty ways to take advantage of that, but I haven't tried anything yet. Besides, I'd rather he made a move on me.

God that'd be so hot.

Anyway, I woke him up after about ten minutes and we went off to get some lunch before heading back to his house.

I need to start keeping a change of clothes at Dave's. I really wanted to take a shower when we got there, but I didn't have anything to change into. We should probably leave some clothes at the safe house too. It'd be nice to not have to wait until we get home to shower. I mean, the place _does_ have a working shower. No reason to not use it.

I spent more time trying to "become the guy." while Dave got his shower.

No, I didn't peak. Thought about it, but I didn't. I'm a good girl.

He had to work that afternoon, but he said I was free to stay and keep playing if I wanted. So I did.

About five minutes after I heard him leave I was suddenly struck by an almost overpowering urge to start going through his stuff. I resisted temptation though. Like I said, I'm a good girl.

I did roll around in his bed though, but that's just something else entirely.

I didn't stay long though. I really wanted that shower.

But I didn't stay at home for long either though. After I'd showered and finished my homework I decided to go hang out with Dave at NYBC.

I took it easy on the way there so I wouldn't work up a sweat, didn't want to undo my shower already.

When I got there, Dave seemed happy to see me. He said, "Hey! You have great timing." And he put this sundae on the counter with a spoon in it, "You want to split this with me?" he said as he took a bite, "I'll get you a spoon."

I hopped onto a stool at the counter and asked, "What is it?"

He said, "It's our Valentines Special. It's got a fudge brownie, vanilla ice cream, strawberries, hot fudge, caramel, and extra whipped cream."

Now, I love everything he just said. But all together? It sounded kinda gross.

Dave took his spoon and started waving it under my nose saying, "Come on, you know you want some. It's deli~cious."

And for some reason, I started panicking. My heart started racing, I froze up, and I went into tunnel vision. My entire focus was on the spoon weaving back and forth in front of my nose."

I finally snapped out of it when Dave said, "Well, if you really don't want to try it," and started to take the spoon away.

There was no thought behind what I did next, and even now I don't know why I did, but I lunged forward and bit down on the spoon. I didn't swallow the ice cream, I just stayed there, half over the counter with his spoon in my mouth, glaring up at him.

Dave froze for a second before laughing, "Sorry. I didn't mean to confuse entranced drooling with disinterest."

That's when I swallowed, let go of the spoon, smiled and said, "no problem."

Dave just laughed, shook his head, and handed me my own spoon. We split the sundae (he was right, it _was_ delicious) and just talked until I had to head home.

THAT was a good day. Why couldn't today be like that?


	47. Chapter 47

I went over to Angela's house today. Just to hang out. Do stuff. Listen to music. Whatever.

We decided to go on youtube and see if there was anything interesting.

We came across a featured video, simply titled. "He's Back!"

It starts with some guys on the street in front of an apartment building. They're doing tricks on skateboards.

Then one of them points down the street and says, "Hey guys, check it out!"

The camera turns to focus on two people walking down the street. One if a black guy in a purple suit. I recognized him from The Registry and Dr. Gravity.

The other one is Kick-Ass.

They're talking, and then a couple guys come up asking for help. Dr. Gravity seems kinda nervous, but Kick-Ass goes ahead and listens to them. In the middle of talking, one of them takes a swing at Kick-Ass with a pipe.

Dr. Gravity jumps back and out of the way. Kick-Ass brings his batons up while ducking away and blocks the strike, but just barely. He then goes ahead and beats the two down, not even pausing when he answers Dr. Gravities, "Uh, you need any help?" with "No, I'm actually getting pretty good at this." before ending it by smashing both of them in the face with his batons at the same time.

A gang across the street sees this and stands up, one of them yelling "Hey! That's my brother!" or cousin. I don't really care which. Almost a dozen guys start across the street and Kick-Ass says, "This we should run from." and the two of them take off.

Kick-Ass yells to split up and that he'll meet him somewhere.

It ends with a sign saying "Kick Ass is Back!" and it plays the fight again in slow motion.

I guess now I can be a little proud of how he handled himself, but when I was watching it all I could feel was pissed off. I'm still pissed off. Only now I have all sorts of reasons to be pissed.

I kind of shut down to avoid flying into a fit when I saw that video. Angela didn't know what was wrong, she still doesn't (And she's not going to find out if I have anything to say about it) and I couldn't respond so her Mom came and when she couldn't get a reaction she called Marcus and brought me home.

When I got home... the anger went away. For a brief, brief moment it was replaced by shock and... fear. I guess.

The living room looked like a gun show. All the guns Dave and I had hidden in the house were spread out across the room, and Marcus was sitting on the couch looking over it all. His expression was as much anger as it was disappointment and I had no idea what he was going to do or what I could do.

He didn't even look at me. He just seemed to be staring through the wall. And then he said, "You're grounded. Just so we're clear."

I tried to stammer out some sort of excuse, or defense, but I couldn't think clearly. I think I managed to get a "how" out because he said, "I'm a cop Mindy. This is what I do. After seeing your friend out on the streets again it wasn't hard to find them." he paused then said, "I'll give you props for getting the AK-47 in the teddy bear, but you're still grounded."

I was pissed again, and my fists clenched so hard my fingernails started to cut into my palms, "How long?"

"Two weeks, you go to school, you come home, that's it. No friends. Two months, you go to school, you come home, but you can talk to your friends."

I, somehow, managed to keep my tone leve, when I said, "Two months? But, I need to help Dave-"

He cut me off with, "And you're not seeing Dave anymore. Ever."

And that's when I flipped the fuck out. I screamed, I yelled, I threw stuff. I don't even remember what I yelled. As mad as I was, as mad as I am at him... I still need him.

Marcus grabbed my hand to stop me from throwing things, and I punched him. He tried to restrain me, and he probably could have if he hadn't been worried about hurting me. I wasn't worried about hurting him. He might have been able to hold me if he'd treated me like some crazed junkie... cause that's kind of what I was.

It ended when I threw a backwards headbutt and smashed his nose.

He let go and I bolted for the garage. I grabbed my bike and rode to Dave's as fast as I could.

I didn't bother knocking. I just climbed onto the garage and up to his window like I did the first night we met.

Dave was sitting on his bed. He looked like he had a rough day, and I'm sorry to say that I was there to make it worse.

He looked up as I opened his window, he started to say something but I shut him up by smashing my fist into his lying mouth.

Dave hits the floor and I stood over him and screamed, "You bastard! How could you do this to me!"

He was trying to stand, he'd only gotten onto his hands and knees, one hand was covering his mouth and I could see blood. I kicked him onto his back and kept going, "How could you leave me out! How could you lie to me? I thought we closer than that you FUCKING ASSHOLE!" I started to pace around his room, and when I saw him starting to get back up I kicked him again.

I wanted him on the floor. Where I could look down on him.

"Marcus is going to keep us apart now! He's not going to let me see you!" And I wiped at my eyes before I realized what I was doing, but I needed it. There were tears streaming down my face.

"You told me to try and be normal. To let the hero life go. And here you are. Going out as Kick-Ass." My voice started cracking then, "Why? Why did you have to go and ruin it? I thought we had a good thing going? Didn't you?" I really could not stop crying. I didn't really care though.

Dave started to sit up slowly, like he was testing to see if I was going to hit him again. He didn't try to stand, and just sat on the floor. He wiped away some blood from his mouth looked at it, and then spit some more out onto the floor.

"Because my life sucked, and being Kick-Ass was the only thing that made it better. Everything I have that's good in my life came from that. You, Katie, passing gym, hell, even my job. You didn't have a choice in this. I did. I told you you deserved a chance at a normal life and I meant it. I had my normal life. I hated it. I wanted to do something more with my pathetic existence. So I did. And it was great," he smiled then, " Well, it was when I wasn't in danger of losing my life. And then, on Halloween... I realized that I couldn't walk away from shit like that anymore. I couldn't watch bad things happen to people without trying to help. So I started being Kick-Ass again. I didn't tell you because I didn't want to encourage you. Your new life seemed to be working out for you. I didn't want you to ruin it."

I slumped onto the floor next to his bed, "My life was only working because I had you. I could talk to you. I could hang out with you. You, somehow, understand me. Now I can't see or talk to you anymore."

"I'm sorry."

"You should be, Ass"

Then what he'd said finally hit me, "Wait, you've been going out since Halloween? How did nobody notice?"

He nodded to his closest and I got up to look. Inside, laying on top of his folded up costume in a box in the back... was a trench coat and a fedora.

I starred at it for a full minute before it sank in, "YOU'RE The Samaritan!"

He kinda half smirked for a split second and shrugged, "I put it on to hide the costume, and then when I realized I could be caught on camera I kept it on all the time."

I started laughing then. It was too funny and I was too messed up to not. Kick-Ass was finally the real deal and nobody knew it.

"So what made you go out without it?"

"Dr. Gravity wanted to team up. I thought, 'hey, one time out as kick-ass, what could it hurt?'" he rubbed at his jaw, "Turns out it hurt a lot."

I kinda looked off into the corner and said, "Sorry."

He said, "Don't be. I deserved it. I should have at least told you."

I was surprised by that so I asked, "Katie didn't know?"

"No. I didn't tell anyone."

"Does she know now?"

He nodded, "I just got off the phone with her before you came in. She's probably as pissed as you were... are?" he asked with a questioning eyebrow.

"Oh, I'm still mad at you. I'm done hitting you though."

"Good to know."

I walked over and sat down on his lap and said, "Hug me. I'm not going to see you for a long time."

He put his arms around me, and I tried my best to just drink it all in. To get as much of my fix of him as I could before I had to leave. We started talking about other stuff after awhile, but we stayed like that on the floor until Marcus knocked on the door to bring me back home.

I apologized to him for everything, he accepted my apology but noted that I was still grounded.

When we got home I went straight to my room.

I'm still pissed. But... I think I'll get over it. Eventually.

* * *

_**Mako's Message:** So there it is. A bunch of things I'd set up finally came to fruition. Wham episode? Maybe. You tell me._

_I set up a forum to discuss not just Precocious Crush but all my Kick-Ass fics. There's nothing there yet, but I'll get something up soon. Feel free to start your own threads if you wish._

_On an added note, I enjoyed writing Mindy beating Dave more than I should have._


	48. Chapter 48

_**Mako's Message: **… I tried. I really did. This was all I had though. Don't have much else to say except I hope you enjoy it._

_Oh, and check out the forums. Lots of fun discussions to be had there._

* * *

Marcus is an evil bastard.

He was also serious.

After I'd calmed down, I thought, "Hey, this wont be so bad. At least I can still eat lunch with Dave at school."

First day at school I found him sitting alone with Katie who was apparently still letting him have it. He was sitting with his head in his hands, and when he looked up I could see a pretty ugly bruise on his jaw. I kind of cringed when I saw it. Wondering how he'd explained it to Katie wondering if I'd come up, or if this had brought out MY secret as well... It shouldn't have though. Now that Katie knows what he's been up to, it should explain any bruises he gets.

I should show him how to apply make up to cover them, if I ever get a chance. It's been working out pretty well for me.

I thought it'd be a good start on making it up to him to go rescue him from his girlfriend, but before I even got there I was stopped by one of the teachers.

"I'm sorry, but you're not allowed to have any contact with Dave Lizewski."

I stared at her, trying to wrap my head around what she just said. The school wasn't going to allow me to see Dave? The fuck?

What I said was, "What do you mean I can't have contact with him? He's my best friend, we've been eating together for months."

And that's when I learned what a magnificent bastard Marcus is, "Your father called into the school. He's taken out a restraining order. You're not allowed to be within fifty feet of him."

He found a way to keep us apart even at school. Gotta hand it to him for meaning it when he said I wasn't going to see Dave again.

Without any real options (I mean what would kicking her ass accomplish?) I turned around and went looking for Angela and Jessi.

Trying to explain why I wasn't going to be able to see them outside of school for the next two months turned out to be trickier than I expected. I mean, really, how do I tell them, "I'm a super hero, and my dad found my cache of weapons, so he's not letting me out of the house for the next two months"?

When they asked why, the best I came up with was "He found some stuff I wasn't allowed to have."

Their response?

"Drugs?"

"Alchohol?"

"He found your sex tape?"

And here I thought that they were going to just forget about that. Still, I clamped my hand down on Jessi's mouth before she she could say anything else. Between us, fine, I'll tolerate it, but we were in the school lunch room.

I told her, "Watch your mouth or I'll shut it. Permanently."

I let her pull my hand away and she said, "Jeez Mindy. Harsh much?"

She has no idea how harsh I can be.

It amuses me sometimes.

Marcus wasn't home when I got back, of course. It made me wonder how he plans to keep me home when he has shifts that aren't while I'm at school. He left a note, though, saying he would know if I left. Don't know how, but after the restraining order I wouldn't be surprised if he wired the house with alarms.

Since I couldn't leave, I spent the rest of the day in the weight room room until I decided to go eat. And after that it took care of my homework. Now I'm doing this.

I wanted to talk to Marcus tonight but I don't think I can stay up much longer. I guess shouldn't have worked myself so hard. Don't really have anything better do though, since I can't leave the fucking house.


	49. Chapter 49

_**Mako's Message**_: _Had two days off in a row. Decided to write this instead of waiting a couple days like I usually do. I hope you enjoy reading this as much as I did writing it._

* * *

I just had this dream...

I'm back in Dave's room and we're sitting on the floor, and he has his arms wrapped around me, holding me to him. We don't say anything. We just sit there, nestled together. I feel safe. Dave is protecting me.

We're not happy though. It's tense. The longer we sit the tighter we hold each other. We know we have to leave.

I look up, I can't even really see him, my lips are pressed against his neck. I say, "I miss you."

He leans into me and says, "I miss you too."

It hurts. We're holding each other so tight it hurts, and we can't bare to let go.

I tell him, "I want to be with you."

He pulls me away just enough to kiss me. It's soft and gentle. Almost a ghost of a kiss.

Then he picks me up and carries me over to his bed.

He lays me down on top of the blanket and then crawls on top of me. He leans down and kisses me again.

And then Dave is laying on his side next to me. The blanket and sheets are a twisted mess around us, and his arm is resting on my jeans, his hand is on my stomach, just under my shirt. The slight contact is enough to bring fill me with a warm glow and we're slowly nuzzling each other.

Dave whispers, "I'm sorry." and then he's ripped away.

I run after him, but I run right into my room. I made a mistake so I try to turn back but the door slams shut. I go for the window and bars slam down across it. I try to rip them out but they don't budge at all. I throw myself at the door but it's made of iron and all I do is bounce off.

I scream, and scream, and scream.

Then I woke up.

I get up. It's dark out, but I can see there are no bar's on my window and my door is still made of wood.

I touch my computer, but don't turn it on. I decide to walk around the house. Shake it off. I go to the kitchen and open and close the fridge without getting anything. I turn the water on and then off. I wander into the living room and look around. I don't turn on the TV. I see my book sitting on the table. I pick it up, then put it back down. I go to the front door and put my hand on the knob, but I don't leave. I go down to the weight room, I look around, but I don't touch anything. I go back up stairs and into Marcus' room. He's sleeping and I stand over his bed, I think about waking him up but don't.

Finally, I went back to my room to try and sleep again. I can't though. I lay there just staring at the ceiling. I try counting sheep. Nothing. I check the clock and it's still way to early to be up. I pick up my phone. I think, "Dave might be up" but I don't send any messages.

I get up and wander through the house again. Not having anything better to do.

And then I do it again. And again. And again.

And finally I just can't take it anymore and I just scream.

And then I wake up.

I look around. No bars, no iron door. The sun is coming up. It's okay to be up. I reach for my phone on reflex, forgetting that Marcus' took it.

I go downstairs and eat breakfast, wondering if I should go wake up Marcus.

Instead I decided to tell you about my mindfuck of a dream.

Today is going to suck.


	50. Chapter 50

Marcus is such a jackass.

A fucking, lame brained jackass.

I mean, really, what kind of malfunction do you have to have to ask the kid you grounded for two months, "What's wrong?"

SERIOUSLY?

If the pencil I was holding at the time hadn't snapped, I might not have.

I turned to him and just said, "What do you think is wrong?" Yeah, I was too pissed for profanity, or even screaming.

"Okay," he says, "Stupid question." But he keeps pressing, "Why are you shutting down?"

I looked up at him and asked, "What are you talking about?"

"When you're home, all you do is your homework and work out."

"What else is there for me to do." I told him.

"You could watch TV, listen to music, read. I picked up the next book in that series you're reading and you haven't touched it."

I just shrugged, "Not interested."

"Yes, you're being punished, but that doesn't mean your life is over."

"That's what you think."

"What are you talking about?"

And... that's when I started to slip, "A restraining order? Really! You couldn't even let me see him at school?"

"Oh."

"Yeah, 'oh'. Dave is the only person I can really connect with, and you wont let me see him! Ever! How am I supposed to take that!"

"Dave is a bad influence on you. I can't have him encouraging you to put that costume back on."

"Dave has done nothing but try to STOP me from putting it back on!"

"Oh really? What do you two do when you go out? Huh? Patrol?"

"We talk. We get dinner."

Marcus gave me the strangest look then, "So you come back tired and bruised why?"

"Okay, fine. We work out. Dave wanted me to teach him to fight. But I didn't know he was going out in costume. He said he just wanted to be able to defend himself."

"And you believed him?"

"Of course I did! I trust him, unlike you."

"Obviously you can't if he's been lying to you about all this. If he even was."

"He wanted to keep me safe you ass!"

"So do I!"

"You want to change me! You want to crush who I am! You don't want ME! You want the little girl

my Dad took from you!"

"Mindy, that's not true. You know I love you. I've always loved you."

"Then let me see Dave!"

"No!"

"I can't keep this mask on!"

"What mask?"

"THIS MASK!" I screamed, pointing at my face, "This isn't me! I can't be myself around anyone but Dave!"

"You can be yourself around m-"

"NO! I CAN'T! Whenever I try you shoot me down! You're always trying to talk me into doing something 'normal'. Well guess what! I'M NOT NORMAL! I LIKE guns! I LIKE knives! I LIKE action and violence! Dave accepts that! I can talk to him about things like that with him. You just try and steer me to something else every time it comes up. You wouldn't even take me to play paintball! PAINTBALL!"

"Damnit Mindy you don't understand! You're Dad raised you in a world of comic book fantasies! He treated this like some sort of game! It's NOT! You don't understand the danger!"

And, for a brief second, I went frozen cold, "What." And then it was a raging inferno again, "WHAT! I WATCHED MY DAD BURN TO DEATH! I ALMOST DIED! TWICE! And you know who saved me? DAVE! I KNOW THE DANGER AND SO DOES HE! DO YOU EVEN KNOW WHAT HAPPENED TO HIM?"

"What? Of course I do. I saw the video."

"No. Not that. Do you know what happened the first time he tried to be Kick-Ass?"

"Yeah. He fought those guys outside of that doughnut shop."

"No. That wasn't it. His first attempt was months before that. He got stabbed and hit by a car."

Marcus, appropriately, looked shocked, "What?"

"He tried to stop some guys breaking into a car. They stabbed him, and when he tried to get away he got hit by a car. He spent six months recovering. His bones are full of metal plates and pins, and he has nerve damage."

"Nerve damage?" he asked, like I hadn't just said it.

"Yes. Nerve damage. He lost at least twenty percent of his ability to feel, depending on where it is."

"Shit."

"Yeah. Shit. He understands what it's like. He understands the danger just as much as I do. We're the only people we can talk to about this. We're the only people who don't try and tell the other their stupid or crazy for trying to do it."

Marcus looked like what he wanted to say was, "You are stupid and crazy." Instead he said, "You can talk to me about anything."

"I want to be Hit Girl."

"No. No way."

"Why not? I'm better trained than you!"

"Better trained to KILL! I'm not going to have you go out and liter the street with bodies just because you're bored."

"Better dead in the streets then stuffed into prisons."

"No, Mindy. It's not. We're supposed to enforce the law. Not just kill those who break it."

"They aren't afraid of jail!"

"Enough of them are."

"They'd all be afraid of me."

He turned to look at me with the weirdest expression, "No," he said, "They'd just want to kill you even more. When D'Amico found out about you and your Dad, did he run? No. He tried to have you both killed. And he almost did it. I'm not going to let you risk your life so stupidly."

"Frank D'Amico and his whole organization is dead."

Marcus paused for a moment, it looked like he wanted to say something but changed his mind, "There are others who want power. Taking out someone like D'Amico only creates a power vacuum. Others will want to fill it, and the worst of the worst will be the one who get's it."

"Then we kill him, and whoever follows him. And we keep killing them until they give it up."

I didn't like the way he looked at me after that. I can't even explain what it looked like, there where so many emotions trying to be on face on the same time I couldn't make sense of them.

That's not how Dave reacted. Dave just smiled and said, "Sounds like a plan. Do you really think you could pull it off though?"

I told Dave, "Don't know. But it'd be worth it to try."

I told Marcus, "And that's why I can't be myself around you. How I know you don't want the real me."

I took my books and went upstairs, telling him I wasn't hungry. I didn't lie about that. I don't feel hungry. I don't really feel anything. The anger is gone, but... there's nothing else.

I want to talk to Dave.

* * *

**_Mako's Message: _**_This is not the chapter I intended to write. Not really. Mindy wanted to write this though, and well, who am I to argue with her? Not really sure what else to say about it._

_Let me know what you think.  
_


	51. Chapter 51

_**Mako's Message: **After the last chapter, and reading everyone's overwhelmingly positive reviews, many of which were from people I haven't heard from before(And thank you all for taking the time yo review. It meant a lot to me to hear how much you enjoyed that chapter), a thought occurred to me. I really need to explain why Mindy chooses to do what she's doing. I hope I've done a good enough job of showing what she's going through, whether you agree with her actions or not. Since this was kind of shoe horned in, I'll try to get another chapter up ASAP._

* * *

Sometimes I don't know why I stay here.

I don't need Marcus. I have three million do11ars and Safehouse C. It's got a kitchen, a bathroom, and a bedroom. Well, it has a room with a bed in it. It has guns, ammunition, and spare costumes. I could get my own car, yeah it'd take some time but I could do it. I could see Dave whenever I wanted. I could have complete freedom. All I'd have to do is tell Marcus to go fuck himself and leave.

And I'd be on my own.

All by myself.

On the run.

Because, Marcus wouldn't just let me go. He'd report me missing. He'd watch Dave to see if I tried to meet him. He'd make sure the police tried to catch Hit Girl.

The first part of my grounding is almost over. I'll be able to talk to Angela and Jessi again this weekend. Hell, I can talk to Todd and Marty. I'm sure I can find a way to talk to Dave, assuming that Marcus didn't manage to scare him off with the restraining order.

What am I talking about? Dave is no coward. He's spent the last four months going out at night and kicking criminal ass. He wouldn't let something like that stop us from seeing each other. Right? He beat a kid up to protect me. He killed people to save me. He called me his best friend. I have to be important to him... don't I?

Then why hasn't he tried to talk to me at school?

I'm over thinking things. The faculty would probably stop him if he tried, just like they did with me. Katie is probably telling him to stay away as well. Doesn't want him to get into trouble...

So why do I stay here? Because it's better than being a runaway. And Marcus does love me even if he doesn't understand that this is killing me. And I bet I can talk him into letting me see Dave. I just have to convince him that Dave doesn't want to see me get hurt anymore than he does. I might have to make some promises I don't want to make but... would I? Would I choose Dave over Hit Girl? Could I swear to never go back to that life if he let me see Dave? Would being able to see Dave even matter if I had to lock that part away?

I don't know what to do.

I just... what? What do I want? I want to see Dave. I want to be Hit Girl again. It's what I trained to be. It's what I want to be. I am a goddamned super hero. How many people can say that? How many people wish they could?

Marcus and Dave may want to keep me safe. Keep me out of the game... but Dave understands. He knows what it's like out there. What living a normal life is like after having that kind of freedom. That kind of power. You can't just walk away from something like that once you know you can do it.

Live the dream.

But unless I can get Marcus to let me be Hit Girl... I'd have to give up the closest thing I have to family. I'd have to orphan myself. I'd have to live on the run...

As much as I want to be Hit Girl... I don't want to be alone.


	52. Chapter 52

_**Mako's Message:** So, I'm actually kind of freaked out that I've broken 50 chapters. I knew it was going to happen, but it still kind of freaks me out when I make the new chapter file. Hopefully I'll get over it before I hit 60 chapters. Anyway... we are making progress. Yes we are. We're inching along, but we're hitting plot points. I'm gonna try to pick up the pace a little, and I hope you wont object to that, but I can't let myself keep getting delayed by new idea's springing up mid chapter. One of which you'll find after the chapter._

* * *

Okay, so all that stuff I said before about whether or not I was important to Dave has been been put to rest. I am important to him, and Dave has proven himself to be extra special awesome.

When I was leaving school on friday, Jessi grabbed me and stuffed something into my backpack, said, "From Dave." and then ran off. I had no idea what she'd given me, since Marcus was waiting for me. (In a damn police cruiser to boot. I mean really? Was he trying to make a point, or just embarrass me? If he was he'll have to try a lot harder than that.) So it sat there in my bag, eating at me until he finally left for the night, reminding me that he'd know if I left.

And what did I find when I dug into my bag?

A cell phone.

A cheap, pre-paid cellphone, but a cell phone.

There was a message waiting for me on it, "Forgive me?"

I immediately texted back, "It's a start."

He sent right back, "Oh good. I was starting to worry Marcus took it,"

It was kind of nice to know he was waiting for me to text him back. And it was great to finally get to talk to him after nearly two weeks. We talked all night and I even took the phone to bed with me. It was kind of silly, but I got kind of a thrill out of putting him on speaker phone and setting the phone on the pillow beside me and pretending he was really laying next to me... The things I admit to you.

Today he texted me with something that was... really kind of surprising. That Dr. Gravity guy invited him to join an actual team of heroes. He's going to meet them tomorrow night, and he asked if I wanted to come with him.

I asked him, "So what happened to wanting me to live a normal life?"

He said, "I don't think I realized just how much this all meant to you until you punched me in the face over it. And, I figure that if you're part of a team it'll be safer. There'll always be someone to watch your back, ya know?"

It was sweet, if a little insulting that he thought I needed a whole team to watch my back. The only back up I need is from a guy with a sniper rifle. Anybody else would just be in the way.

I had to remind him that I was grounded though. As awesome as it would be to be part of a superhero team, I didn't want to make this whole situation worse by sneaking out.

When I put that suit on again, it's going to be with Marcus' approval. Even if I have guilt trip him to hell and back to get it.

* * *

_**~DELETED SCENE~**__This scene was removed for sake of pacing, as well as the realization that Marcus would have Mindy's bike locked up, at best, and therefore this wouldn't have made any sense._

I just couldn't stand being in this house so I said "damn the consequences I'm going to see Dave."

I don't know what the point was though.

I took my bike and I rode to his house, stashing the bike behind the garage. I didn't see any lights on in the house, so I climbed up onto the garage and waited outside his window for him to come home. After awhile I realized I might have made a mistake. I had no idea if he was even going to come home. He could've headed straight out as Kick-Ass. He could've already been out on patrol.

That was when the light came on in the room. I couldn't believe I hadn't heard him come home, but there he was. I was going to go knock on his window, but then I saw Katie walk into the room.

Dave sat on his bed and she sat down on his lap. They were talking, and then they started kissing, and then I turned away and climbed down, got on my bike and went home.

I don't know what I was thinking.


	53. Chapter 53

_**Mako's Message:** Okay, so uh, **SPOILERS! **Seriously. Not joking. If you haven't read Kick-Ass 2 #2 then reading this will spoil one of the surprises from that book. Granted, it's presented as a surprise in THIS story as well, but eh. Just a heads up. There's probably some other stuff in here that might be considered a spoiler, but I think that was the only big one. Oh and I may have messed up on a characters name in an earlier chapter. It was supposed to be Colonel Stars, not Colonel Stripes. My bad.  
_

_That said, this is where I finally catch up to the comic(not counting the flash forward). I've been sort of using it as a guide post, but after these next few chapters I'm gonna have to come up with everyhing myself. Granted, 90% of the plot was original anyway so it shouldn't affect the quality._

_Anyway, enjoy!_

* * *

I have the stupidest grin on my face, and I really shouldn't, but today was such trip.

Marcus noticed the improvement in my mood today and asked what had me smiling all of a sudden. I told him, "My two weeks are up, duh. Now gimmie back my phone."

He smiled, pulled it out of his pocket, set it on the table, and walked away. I snatched it up and started writing a text to Angela and Jessi only to hear him say, "At least you do something like a normal 11-year-old."

I yelled after him, "Don't start that argument again I am I in a GOOD MOOD!"

Obviously Marcus was feeling daring because he responded with, "And we both know how rare THAT is."

So I threw a throw pillow at him. That's what they're for, right?

It actually made me feel even better. Yeah, I know I yelled at Marcus about how I'm not normal, and how I'll never BE normal, and that he needs to give up on trying to make me normal... but that doesn't mean I wouldn't like to be. And things like that make feel like I'm just a normal girl with a normal family.

Don't get me wrong though, if somone said they could unscrew my head and pour out all the training and everything that makes me not normal, and let me live like I WAS just another 11-year-old, I wouldn't do it. You can't put a price on that kind of awesome.

So, I spent most the of the day...acting like an 11-year-old girl. I sat on my bed and texted my friends, including Marty and Todd, but not Dave since he had to work today. I listened to music and read my book. I killed time on the web.

Dave did text me that evening though, when he was going to meet the superhero team. He wanted to make sure I didn't want to try and sneak out and meet up with them. He said, "You could be our Wolverine." And I cannot say I wasn't tempted, but I had to remind him I was grounded and wanted to try and make this work out.

So, It was a pretty good day, if quiet and I went to bed at a reasonable hour.

So, you're probably wondering why I'm grinning like an idiot and said today was a trip.

Well, later that night my bed shook and I shot awake, saw a silhouette standing over me, grabbed the knife under my pillow and tried to stab them. My stab was blocked and I heard a cracking voice say, "Jesus Christ Mindy!" That's when my eyes adjusted to the light and I could see it was Dave standing over me, in costume, "You sleep with a knife unfder your pillow?"

At the time I was trying to slow my own heart down, because, god damn, you don't realize how creepy that is until you're on the other side of it. Now though, I think it's hilarious that he was so freaked out his voice cracked.

Anyway, I took a deep breath and said, "Of course I do," then after a moment added, "Nice block."

Dave just gave me that goofy grin of his and said, "Well, I had a really great teacher."

I smiled and said, "And don't you forget it." That's when realization hit me. "Dude! What the fuck are you doing here? What if Marcus catches you?"

"He wont. He works night shift tonight right? It's still pretty early in the night. He wont be back for awhile."

"You are really pushing your luck here."

"I can leave then," he said, gesturing towards the window.

Yeah, I wasn't going to let him out of here that easily, "No, you're here, sit, stay," I said, and patted the bed beside me, "But seriously, what are you doing here?"

He sat down next to me and said "I wanted to talk to you about meeting with Justive Forever."

"Justice Forever." That's what these guys call themselves. It's... well, it's not the worst name they could have had. And I guess it does kind of make a good battle cry, "JUSTICE FOREVER!" Heh. It works for Kick-Ass, but I can't imagine myself yelling that while in costume. I'd go for something like, "Death to Evil!" or, "Fuck Crime!", What did I say when I was at Rasul's? "Okay you cunt's, let's see what you can do." I think it was, and, "So you want to play?" I bet Dave remembers. I have a feeling that night is burned into his memory for all eternity. So, maybe, "Let's play you cunts!" Oh. I know. "Playtime's over Motherfuckers!" There we go, now that's a battle cry.

Anyway, Dave started telling me about their secret headquarters. I think he said it was under a bar... I know it was underground, but I can't remember what it's under... He said it was run by two ex-mafia (yeah, ex-MAFIA) born again christians, Colonol Stars and Lieutenant Stripes. Yeah... Colonol Stars is ex-mafia... I'm not sure how I feel about that. There was a married couple called Remembering Tommy, because their son was abducted right off the street. There was a cop, yeah, a COP whose name is Insect-Man. Apparently he got sick of all the red tape and does this so he can do what his day job doesn't allow. Which apparently means "Get shit done." No offense to marcus, but all that paper work just cushions the criminals. There was a girl in spiked leather called "Night-Bitch"(She tried reall hard with that one, I can tell.) who got into this because her sister was killed and stuffed in a dumpster and the police found nothing. And then, Dave drops this on me, "I kinda blew my idenity."

Before I could beat his ass for being an idiot, he explained that it was because he got over excited when he realised that the last guy, "Battle Guy," is, get this, MARTY EISENBERG! Yes, Marty as in "Todd and Marty."

My jaw hit the floor and I said, "You've got to be shitting me."

"I know, right! But I swear it's him. He even came up with this bullshit story about his parents being killed and eaten in front of him."

I'm sorry to say I laughed my ass off at that.

Dave got real serious by the time I pulled myself together, "What?" I asked him.

"Does Marty look like a super hero to you?"

"No, he looks like the pilbury dough boy."

"Yeah... he doesn't look any different than he did a year ago. I mean, when I started as Kick-Ass I tried to get in shape. I lifted weights, I jogged...nothing like what you've had me doing but still, I deffinetly shapped up. Marty on the other hand..."

"Looks like the pisbury dough boy."

"Yeah. It didn't really hit me until you started laughing but... he's really in no shape to be doing this."

"You're worried he could get hurt?"

"Yeah... maybe I should try and talk him out of it."

I gave him a look that said, "Did you seriously just say that."

"Okay, okay, I know that sounds bad, but I mean..."

"Dave, you got stabbed and run over and it didn't make you stop. Do you really think you can talk Marty out of this?"

"So what do you think I should do?"

I didn't know what else to say so I shrugged and said, "train him."

"Me?"

"Sure why not? You're competant now."

"Mindy, you've had like, six years of experience with this. I've only had a few months. I can't train him."

"Well those are your only options. Convince him to drop it, or get him in shape. I'm sure Erika will appriciate it."

He seemed really down then so I told him to tell me more about their headquarters and the other heroes. That at least got his mind off of Marty for awhile. When he was ready to leave and were saying our goodbyes I told him, "This was fun, but next time, call."

"Well sorry for wanting to actually talk to you. Phone only it is," and he started to hop out the window I ran over and took a swipe at him with my pillow, "That's not what I meant you ass!" and I laughed as I realised I couldn't even see him anymore. I guess he has gotten really good at staying out of sight.

I don't think I'm gonna be able to get back to sleep for awhile.


	54. Chapter 54

_**Mako's Message:**__ A short angry chapter for a short angry girl. If you saw this coming, you get a cookie. You just have to come collect it. And we're getting closer to the end of Act1! No more than six chapters to go. And a Holiday bonus coming up as well. I'm so excited! So much to tell, but so much ground to cover... -sigh- Well. It'll be a fun next six months at least.  
_

* * *

So Marty is doing the superhero thing. And I'm still grounded. Whoop-DE-fucking-do.

They've been walking around all buddy buddy ever since that meeting. Talking about costumes, secret meetings, code words, secret handshakes, swearing oaths by candlelight, and secret missions. Marty isn't even a real fucking hero! Dave went out and did it on his own. He did it because no one else was. And ya know what? He's actually good at it now.

He's not great, but he's good.

Me? I'm the real superhero. I have the moves. I have the skill. I did all those push-ups, sit-ups and pull ups. It should be me beside Dave, planning how to bust up that drug deal. Not Marty.

I wanna punch the smug little bastard in the face.

I should start hanging out with Todd. See how they like it. Oh right, I can't. I'm grounded.

Dave isn't making it any easier. He caught me glowering at them as they were leaving the cafeteria one day, and he just sort of spread his arms and shrugged his shoulder as if to say, "What am I supposed to do? I asked you to join."

Yeah. Way to rub my face in it.

And the worst part is, I can't change my mind on this. Now that Marty knows that Dave's Kick-Ass the second he saw me as Hit Girl the game would be over.

This is fucking bullshit.

Dave now has school, work, Kick-Ass, and training Marty. Yeah. Dave told me about how he went over to Marty's house the other day. They spent the afternoon beating the shit out of each other. He said he was actually kind of enjoying it, until he realized that the difference between him and Marty was the same, if not smaller, than the difference between me and him and he got all depressed.

Marty came to school the next day with a limp and a black eye.

Dave needs to learn to hold back I think. Or maybe he did it on purpose... he might have wanted him to have a better idea of what he was getting into. That's kind of what my Dad was doing when he shot me. Making sure I knew what I was in for so I'd be ready and wouldn't be scared.

This is still such fucking bullshit it blows my mind. It's supposed to be me and Dave. Kick-Ass and Hit Girl. Not Kick-Ass and "Battle Guy."

Oh. And I forgot to mention Katie. Work, patrol, school, training, and KATIE. Still makes time for Katie.

But me? No. I just get a couple texts between all of that.

This is just fucking wrong.

I need to go hit something.


	55. Chapter 55

_**Mako's Message: **Hey all. Been awhile hasn't it? Well, what can I say? Being poor and semi-homeless is a full time job! I've still found time for writing though, and I've got roughly four chapters backlogged. Not gonna post them all at once though. Might put up two. Depends on how I feel by the time I finish my Coolatta (I'm sitting in a dunkin donuts as I type this). Anyway, I hope you enjoy this chapter. It's got Riley in it, and I know how much you've all missed her, so you should all be very happy with it. ^_^_

* * *

Today started out horrible and got marginally better by the end. I mean, at least I got ice cream.

It started with more stupid nightmares. I swear if I spend another night dreaming about wandering around this house doing nothing I'm gonna start putting holes in things.

At school Jessi was absent, and Angela had a test she needed to study for, and since I'm not allowed to go near Dave (not that I haven't thought about trying anyway.) I couldn't even go talk to Todd and Dough Boy, I was left sitting alone and reading an old comic book. I wish Marcus would at least let me pick up my comics.

The only thing even remotely productive I accomplished at school was filling up the margins of my notebook with doodles of me and Dave kicking ass. With a pile of unconscious bodies in the background.

Any resemblance to peoples currently living or dead are purely coincidental. Purely.

After getting picked up and taken home I sent out text messages to everyone I talk to and went into the gym to work out for a couple hours.

That didn't happen though.

Nobody texted me back. I sent another few texts out, but still nothing. The fact that the phone wasn't chirping it's message alert tone started driving me nuts. I couldn't focus so I gave up trying to work out and went up to my room.

Where I ended up sitting at my desk, poking my phone across it for awhile before I finally snapped and yelled, "RING!"

When Marcus came home I was draped across the couch staring through a wall.

I don't know how long he stood there looking at me because I didn't hear him come in, and I didn't notice him until he said, "Come on. Let's go get some ice cream."

I'll admit that shocked me out of my boredom coma, "What?"

"Let's go get some ice cream."

"Seriously?"

"Yes."

I didn't know what to say except, "okay."

The entire time in the car, all I could think was, "Is he really taking me to NYBC?"

When I saw that that was exactly where we were going, I started wondering if he was actually relenting on the whole "never seeing Dave" thing

I tried to not let my excitement at the possibility show. Which, turned out to be a good thing, as Dave wasn't there. What I probably could have done was hide my disappointment better when Riley walked out, though.

She greeted Marcus by name and asked if he wanted his usual, so I guess he's been stopping by pretty often. She didn't spot me until after that (I hate being short) at which point she broke in to a huge grin and said, "Mindy! Haven't seen you in ages, what's kept you away?"

"She's been grounded."

"Wow. Long grounding." She seemed kind of surprised then perked up again, "Well, if that's the case, then I'll upgrade your order by one size for free, what'll you have?"

I decided on the double fudge brownie sundae. Yeah, I know I keep ordering that, but I mean, it's hot fudge, and brownie, and... I'm sorry but I just can't resist that much chocolate. It's a weakness.

Riley again seemed to be under the impression that we were friends and started talking to me. She asked how I was doing, what did I do to get grounded for so long (I wasn't grounded as long as she thought. I just haven't seen her the last few times I went there.), and if I was still hanging out with Dave all the time.

Then she said, "He talks about you a lot you know. Maybe even more than he does about Katie."

She said that last bit while looking at me out of the corner of her eye. If she was trying to look like she wasn't looking at me she failed miserably. But for some reason I got the sense she was only pretending she was trying to look like she wasn't looking at me.

I didn't know how to respond to that so I just asked, "Really?"

"Oh yeah. It must be nice to get that much attention from such a cute guy." I swear she couldn't have been less subtle if she actually winked and nudged me.

It was still hard not blush about it. I mean, how was hearing Dave talks about me more than Katie NOT supposed to make me feel all...warm and glowy.

Part of me wanted to push for more info. _What_ exactly, was Dave saying about me? But the rational, here and now part reminded me that Marcus was _right over there_ and that if I ever wanted to see Dave again I couldn't let on that I had any interest in him, even if it was just physical_ scratch that. ESPECIALLY if it was a physical interest. Marcus would probably kill him if he knew I wanted him in my bed.

So I told her, "That's cool." and kept eating my sundae.

"So did you use the-uh," she looked over at Marcus, "present I gave you?"

I started to ask what she was talking about, then I remembered; the mistletoe. It immediately made me think back to the kiss and just as quickly I could feel myself start to flush. I tried to calm down and not let anything show, but I guess she caught it anyway. She grinned like a fiend and said, "You did." and she leaned in to whisper to me, "So when are you going to tell me who the lucky guy is?"

I pushed my sundae away and said, "I have no idea what you're talking about," then turned to tell Marcus I was done.

I heard her say to herself, "Awe, it's so cute when they deny it."

As we got up, Riley handed Marcus a box, "The rest of Mindy's sundae. I figured she'd like to save it for later. I threw an extra scoop in too."

Marcus thanked her and as we walked out he said, "I didn't know you were friends with Riley."

I said, "I'm not," and nothing else for the rest of the trip home.

I went upstairs and tried to get into my book, but what Riley said bugged me. Why did she want to know who I was interested in? It didn't really matter though, because I couldn't tell her if I wanted to, and I don't, because I just know she'd tell Dave. And probably Marcus for that matter. They seemed friendly.

Later that night when I was trying to force myself to sleep and end this fucking day, my phone vibrated. And not just any phone, my secret phone. The Dave Phone.

I thought, "Sweet. Today's finally looking up."

The message waiting for me? "Is Marcus working tonight?"

The sudden rush of excitement that hit me when I read that (Dave wanted to sneak over!) crashed and burned as I remembered that no, Marcus doesn't work tonight.

He texted back, "Damn, I really wanted to tell you about this face to face. I guess I can't even call, can I?"

I checked the house and found Marcus downstairs watching television so I slipped back upstairs and told him he could actually, if he wanted.

A minute later my phone started buzzing and I picked it up before the first one finished.

Once I said "Hello" Dave immediately started talking about his first real mission with Justice Forever.

He and Marty met up with the rest of the team to bust up a poker game run by a guy who run's an underage prostitution ring. Apparently old man Colonel Stripes is pretty good at what he does since he dropped the bouncer, who was a good foot taller than him, in one blow. Then they broke in an beat the shit out of everyone there, broke a few legs, cracked a few skulls, ya know, the usual. They kept the guy they wanted intact though. Well, mostly at least. Dave said Colonel Stripes called in his dog, and he said this was a big goddamn dog. Like, big enough to look me right in eye big. And then the dog chomped down right on the guys tunk.

I know Dave probably cringed seeing that, and Daddy probably would have as well, but I couldn't help but grin at the image; a pimp getting his cock bitten off.

What can I say? I love irony. Or would that be karma? Doesn't matter. It's still awesome.

Anyway, they got the info the wanted out of him, and then left him on the floor, bleeding and broken with the rest of the scum from the poker game, for the cops to pick up.

I would have just killed the bunch of them... but in the case of the guy they turned into dog food that might have been considered an act of mercy.

It was a fun story, and I loved listening to it (Dave went into more detail than I did.), but it ended up just making me wish I was there. I mean, come on, a little girl leading the charge to bust up a guy running an underage prostitution ring? Now THAT is irony.

And add to that the fact that Marty DID get in on that (Oh yeah, Dave said he threw up after the dog ripped a chunk out of the guy. I knew he was a pussy.) and it just made me even more depressed.

Tomorrow had better be better than this craptastrophy.

I think I'll go eat the rest of that sundae.


	56. Chapter 56

_**Mako's Message: **Okay, so Coolattas are apparently made with liquid nitrogen because every little sip gave me a brain freeze. I'm done looking at apartments so I'm leaving my free wi-fi spot, but I leave you with this chapter. Enjoy the wait until Chapter-57._

* * *

I thought things were looking up, but it's just been day after day after day after day of SUCK.

I just... I don't even know what I'm doing anymore. Dave is always busy with something. School work, Katie, WORK work, Justice Forever crap, or just going out as Kick-Ass by himself. Dave talks to me when he has some time between all that other shit he gets up to. And I like talking to him, I just don't want to hear about how they ambushed a drug deal, no matter HOW many kilos they confiscated. Am I seeing any of that money? Did I get to gut anyone? No? Then stop telling me about it! It just makes me more pissed off about being stuck here!

I swear it's almost enough to give up on getting Marcus to willingly let me do my Hit Girl thing.

Angela and Jessi aren't much help either. I mean, it was easy and kind of fun to talk to them about Glee(it is honestly better than I thought it'd be. Still not my thing though), Salena Gomez (How dare she lower herself to dating Bieber. She could do so much better.), or how hot the guy in that upcoming Thor movie is (And yeah, I admit it, he's pretty hot. I wish I could go see it with Dave.) but it's just losing it's appeal and becoming downright annoying. I have other interests ya know. Even when I try to bring up something I like, for example, Ninja Warrior, it makes me die a little inside every time I have to say, "Oh yeah, the course looks like, soooo impossible. I'd never be able to do it in a million years."

I could run that course in my sleep.

Even my own training is starting to bore me. I mean, what am I even training for anymore? I'm not going out fighting criminals. The only thing I've been fighting is boredom and the urge to bash my own brains in. I mean, seriously. There's only so many times I can work myself into the ground just for the fuck of it before I go crazy. Right now even, I'm sitting on the couch with Marcus watching one of those stupid judge shows, and even THAT'S not on because they interrupted it with some breaking news story about


	57. Chapter 57

**_Mako's Message:_**_ This chapter is chapter 57 on purpose. It's totally not a coincidence. Nu uh, not at all. No accidental awesomeness here._  
_Anyway, if this style of story lent itself to action better I'd tell you to get some ass-kicking music to play as you read... but it doesn't, so don't. Something sad or triumphant, or both, might be appropriate though. More after the chapter._

* * *

Well. Dave is cleaned up, mostly, and in bed. He should be asleep any second now if he's not already.

I came through without a scratch, which was a near thing, and I haven't spotted any bruises. I'm sure they'll show up by morning though.

So, I just left you hanging last time because the news report was about two gangs lining up for a fight in times square. And this wasn't just any two gangs. These two gangs were done up in COSTUMES.

Figure it out yet?

I spotted Dave on one side, along with the other members of Justice Forever, and a couple dozen other guys from the registry as well as some new people. Guess who was leading the other side? You'll never believe this.

Chris. D'Amico.

Fucking Red Mist, I'm sorry, "The Motherfucker" had managed to gather a bunch of cunts together under his banner to wreck shit. First thing on his list of things to ruin was the cities super hero population. If I hadn't been in such a funk I might have heard something about this (a couple of those fuckers went to school with Dave for christ's sake!), and that he issued an ultimatum to show up for a fight today to everyone who called themselves a hero or he and his gang were just going to start tearing the place up and start in on any bystanders they could get their hands on.

The camera even zoomed in on him standing on top of a car in his new suit waving a katana around like he was some sort of general.

His gang was at least equal to the group of heroes, which is just fucking depressing, but they weren't nearly as nicely dressed. They were all in costumes too, but they seemed to be wearing whatever they could grab the fastest at a costume store, if they even bothered to go to one. Clowns seemed to be pretty popular among them (Thank you Heath Ledger.) but there were plenty of skull and demon masks as well. Though, a slot of them seemed to think their own goth/emo/punk/fucktard selves counted as being in costume. Fucking lames.

I saw this on TV and I was just in this state of shock, starring at the screen, as Chris gave order to attack and both groups clashed. What finally snapped me out of it was when I could see Dave get punched in the face and crash to the ground.

I leapt up and ran to my room. It wasn't until I dug my costume out of the "hidden" pocket in my backpack (Yeah. I had my suit with my at school every day.) and it wasn't until I had the suit on and was tying my hair up to fit under my wig that Marcus realized I'd left.

I heard him yell, "Mindy!" as I climbed up into the crawl space above my closet. I don't think Marcus even knows it's there because it was empty when I found it. I opened up the case and pulled out the two emergency pistols Daddy kept there. While I was up there Marcus came to my room looking for me and he was obviously confused about where I went and went back downstairs. I came down in full costume and headed for the kitchen. Marcus finally caught up with me while I was picking out knives from the kitchen set.

"Where do you think you're going?"

"Where do you think!"

"NO! No way in hell. You are not going out there. You'll get yourself killed!"

"THEY are getting killed!" I said while pointing towards the TV with a knife, "They need me!"

"No. You're not going."

I said, "The fuck I'm not," and moved for the garage door.

Marcus got between me and the door and said, "No."

I set myself and I told him, "Marcus... I. Will go. THROUGH you."

We stared each other down for a second. In the brief pause we could both hear gunshots from the live report. Then he suddenly snatched the cars keys off the wall and opened the door, "C'mon get in the car."

I froze for a second, "What?"

"Get in the car! I'm driving."

"Fuckin' aye!"

Miracle of miracles, there was hardly any traffic and Marcus drove like he was in The Fast and Furious. We got there in only a few minutes, and as we were going down the last stretch I told him, "Don't stop. Just spin the car and keep going. Don't give anyone a chance to see you or your plate."

"You sure about this?"

"Yes," I said, and popped my door open.

He drove in, spun the car, and I rolled out.

As I came to my feet I pulled out the pistols, shouted, "Playtime's over motherfuckers!" and opened fire.

I hit every one of my targets, but I think only half of them where kill shots, since I was trying to not hit the few heroes still fighting. Less then half of the ones who showed up where still fighting, and I could see a number of bodies all over the ground. The bad guys were doing a lot better. At least half their group was still fighting.

That of course ended when I showed up and shot a dozen of their guys. I holstered the guns and dove in knives first.

It was like coming home.

They were all uncoordinated and slow. Every one of my strikes was careful and fatal. There were a couple guys that had some idea of how to fight, but they weren't at my level. Anyone that tried to attack got a rude awakening. I spun around, ducked under, and flipped over every obstacle in my path, leaving blood, pain, and death behind me.

I needed to find Dave. That was my primary concern, but I couldn't find him. I called out for him, not really expecting an answer, I figured he'd be one of people laying beaten and broken on the ground, but hopefully not one of the dead.

I really should have had more faith in him.

He called back from the other side of the fight, still standing, still going, still kicking ass.

He was beat the fuck up though.

God bless those fucked up nerves of his.

That's when I heard a gun shot, and felt a bullet whip through my hair. I reacted on instinct and threw one of the kitchen knives in the direction the shot came from. I hit Chris in the shoulder, which was actually really impressive even for me since I practically threw it blind and he had to be at least thirty feet away from me on a car.

Ya know, I'm gonna have to replace those knives...

Anyway, I didn't notice then, but that was the only gunshot I heard the entire time I was there. I guess everybody else had run out of ammo by then.

Chris pulled the knife out of his shoulder and tried to shoot me again, but his gun was empty and he just threw it at the nearest hero. He jumped down and started trying carve a path to me like I'd been doing to Dave, but he wasn't having nearly as much luck.

I finally caught up to Dave and said, "Congrat's on living this long."

"Trained by the best remember?"

Man he was a site. His face was cut up and swollen, his suit was covered in blood spatter, but by that point pretty much everybody still standing was in the same condition.

I was too busy checking him over that I didn't notice some cunt coming up behind me(your sense of hearing is pretty much worth shit in a situation like that) Dave did though, and he pushed me aside and kicked the guy in the gut. Dave winced after that cause his leg was twisted (I didn't know that till later though.) so he couldn't do a follow up. I was happy to finish the guy off for him though.

With each of us watching the other's back, we made short work of the few guys who hadn't run after they saw what I was doing to their side.

Chris was shouting after one of them to, and I quote, "Get back here you fucking pussy!"

When he turned around and saw that he was how outnumbered he was, he said, "Aw, fuck this shit." and ran too. Dave and I chased after him, but he had a car waiting for him. He jumped in and the car peeled out as I yelled, "Get back here motherfucker!"

He stood up through the sun roof and yelled, back as they drove by us, "I'm not just some motherfucker! I'm THE MOTHERFUCKER! Cause After I kill you I'm gonna come back and fuck your mother, and his mother, and ALL THEIR MOTHERS!"

I REALLY wished I'd saved a bullet for him It would have been an easy shot.

So, after that, for a brief moment, I got a look around to see who was still standing. Biker Knight was there, still looking bad ass as fuck, he even had blades of some sort on his arms that were red with blood, The Guardian was still up, the gentleman was as well, but his fake mustache was barely hanging on and his top hat was nowhere to be seen, holding a cane sword that was also red with blood and he'd abandoned his act of the dapper gentleman and was swearing up a storm. There was a another guy who was done up in enough armor to make my Daddy envious and he had this big circular shield, and another person who... well, I don't know, he had some sort of insect on his shirt, I think it might have been a wasp or something and he didn't seem to have a weapon, there was a woman in a white cloak with red trim treating wounded, and some guy in an apron with a broom.

Yeah, I don't know what that was about.

But it was only about five seconds before the mob was on us. Cops, paramedics, media, but mostly spectators swarmed in once "The Motherfucker" fled. The media seemed REALLY interested in me, but can you blame them? I pretty much ended the fight singlehandedly.

That doesn't mean I liked the barrage of camera flashes going off in my eyes or all the microphones being jammed in my face. Dave wasn't getting away from it either though. I don't think I said a single word that wasn't followed by some variation on the word "fuck" but that didn't deter them at all. I kept trying to shield my face from the cameras but there were just so many of them I know at least one got a clear shot of me. At one point I even took a swipe at them with one of my knives, but they all dodged back as a group like a school of fish or something. Dave pushed my hand down to stop me from trying it again, and I heard the only question I can actually remember being asked and it wasn't even directed at me. It was asked to Dave.

"What is your relationship to Hit Girl?"

Dave just yelled back, "I don't know her!"

Part of me hopes they believed that, but another, smaller, part was kind hurt that he denied having anything to do with me, not that I don't know why he did it and I'm glad he did.

They were only hounding us for maybe thirty seconds before we both said, "Run" and bolted through the crowd. Despite being so fucked up I'm surprised he was standing Dave manged to shoulder tackle a couple reporters and clear a path for us to get the fuck out of there. I only saw two other groups of reporters, one was around The Guardian who was calmly answering questions, the other was the woman in the white cloak who was answering questions but not being nearly as nice about it. The Gentleman was climbing into an ambulance. The other three seemed to made a clean getaway.

We weren't so lucky. Call it the price of fame, but we had to spend the next hour just trying to lose the reporters and the fanboys who wanted autographs. We ended up hiding in an abandoned building while the pursuit cooled off. I was really worried about Dave at the point, since he looked like death on a cold platter.

We didn't have a change of clothes or a way to call Marcus for a pick up even if he hadn't been completely swamped with work thanks to all this, so we had to be really careful and sneak our way to the safehouse, which was the closest shelter we had.

When we got inside, Dave stumbled into the shower and turned the water on hot and climbed in without even taking his mask off. He didn't stand either. He just sort of sank to the floor.

Luckily it occurred to me that we should keep some spare clothes here before I got grounded, so I had something to change into. I hadn't noticed it until the adrenalin had stopped flowing, but that suit was really tight. Despite everything I almost resorted to asking Dave to help pull it off me. It's a good thing Daddy had some spare costumes for me in larger sizes stashed away.

When I went back to check on him, he had his suit half off and the water was still running red with blood.

I asked him if he needed any help, not really expecting him to say yes. But he did.

He had me help him to his feet and then while he was holding the wall, he asked me to check his body for any serious wounds. He said his whole body was just a dull throbbing pain and for all he know he could have been stabbed in the back and not know.

So, I got to run my hands across a half naked Dave. Unfortunately, the fact that I was checking him for serious injuries didn't allow me to enjoy it.

I found a few scratches, a couple small cuts, and some nasty bruises but nothing serious.

When I was finished Dave thanked me and asked for a towel. I also grabbed him a pair of his sweat pants and let him change into them. When he came out he turned on the little TV we had and checked the news. They were still reporting the injured and dead while they replayed images of the fight. In one of the aerial shots, I could spot a blue suited body laying still on the ground. I couldn't tell if he was dead, or just unconscious, but I recognized him as Battle Guy. As Marty. I could see a guy in a green camo jacket with a huge dog, Colonel Stars, who suddenly seemed to collapse. I don't know why, he seemed to be doing fine, but down he went. His dog turned all it's attention to it's master and got it's head bashed in for it.

There was another guy in all black crawling away from the fight towards the ambulances waiting behind police barricades. I couldn't see if he made it or not. There was one shot of the woman in the white cloak breaking away from the fight to run over and yell at the paramedics before running back into the fray herself. Dave said, "She was incredible. She spent the entire fight treating anyone who was injured. But when someone tried to grab her, she pulled this fucking big, Thor's hammer looking thing off her belt and smashed the guy's head in."

He went silent again as the report continued on.

As it ended he said, "Almost half our side turned and ran when the first gun went off. We had some seriously bad ass motherfuckers on our side. Shred Ranger started with those short swords that don't have any real edge to them, but once people started dieing, he put them away and slid these blade on his gauntlets forward and started tearing people up. There was another guy in all this armor with a shield. He spent most of the fight getting between anyone with a gun and everyone else. The Guardian is a serious badass. He did the whole fight unarmed. He's the only person I can think of that I think could beat you. The Gentleman was a pretty good fighter. I'm actually more surprised by how long he kept his schtick up. And towards the end, some guy came running out of one of the stores with a broom and just started laying into people. He was a big help." He looked at me and said, "Not as big a help as you though. If you hadn't shown up I don't know what would have happened."

He went quiet again and turned back to the television as they started showing footage of the wounded being carried away and the dead zipped up in bags.

Marty was put into an ambulance, so was Colonel Stars. They didn't say anything about the condition of any of them.

Dave started talking again, and his voice was nearly breaking, "I should have done more. I should have fought harder, or taken more risks. I spent most of the fight keeping other people between me and Chris because I knew he was standing up there waiting to get a shot off at me. I FUCKING KNEW IT. But I stayed out of his site so well that he'd get bored and take pot shots at other people. I knew he was after me, and because I wasn't man enough to try and take him out, other people got shot, got KILLED! I should have killed Chris back at the penthouse... I should have killed him and then none of this would have happened."

I didn't know what else to say, so I said, "If you'd taken any longer to get to me... D'Amico would have killed me."

"Then I should have killed him afterward. And now... Marty's dead. Marty is fucking DEAD and it's my fault. I started all this shit, and I got him into this, and I couldn't even train him properly, and some huge fuck came up and hit him in the head with hammer and now he's dead. My oldest friend is DEAD Mindy, and it's my fault!"

He just completely broke at that point and I ended up holding him as he cried for awhile before I helped him into the bed.

Now I've got myself cleaned up and checked out, and I'm going to go climb into bed with him and see if we can sleep this off, because, as much as I hate having to find out like this, I think he needs me as much as I need him.

* * *

**_Son of Mako's Message:_**_The fact that I'm able to update this again so soon was a complete fluke. I'm still looking for a house and childcare for my son. Hopefully, this'll tide you over for a bit._

_If it doesn't, the video located at_ vimeo_ dot _com_ forward slash _26528218 _should_.

_And, failing that, write you own fanfic. I'd love to read it. ^_^_


	58. Chapter 58

_**Mako's Message: **First I want to apologize to everyone who has reviewed. I usually try to respond to every review I get, but I just haven't had the time. Just posting these is taking more time from searching Craigslist than I should be sparring, but damnit, I can't just leave you guys hanging!_

_Second, thank you to all of you who have wished me luck in finding a place for me and my son. I could really use it._

_Anyway, I hope this chapter answers any questions you might have had after reading 57.  
Also, at 3631 words, this should be the longest chapter yet. So, enjoy_

Today was a hell of a day.

I mean, waking up in a bed that's not yours is always strange. You feel disoriented and there's always that little tinge of panic at waking up in an unfamiliar place.

But it was still nice waking up next to Dave.

The moment of confusion washed away completely when I saw him sleeping beside me and it just made me so happy to see him there I wanted to wrap my self around him, hold him tight and drift back to sleep. I'm not the type to go back to sleep if the sun is up though.

I didn't want to disturb him though, so I got up, took a shower, and put on some fresh clothes. When I went back into the room to see how Dave was doing, he was thrashing around in the sheets and crying out in his sleep.

I ran over to him and started shaking him and calling his name, though how much good that did with all the thrashing he was already doing I've no idea. He did wake up though, and for a second I could see him look around in a panic, and then his eyes turned to me and... he flinched back.

I don't know why he did, but I leaned back to give him some space anyway and asked, "What's wrong? A nightmare?" He didn't answer me though, he was too busy trying to catch his breath, and that's when I noticed he was covered in sweat. When he finally pulled himself together and looked up at me he said, "I'm so sorry."

I asked him what he was sorry about, and he said, "I'm sorry for what happened to your father. It was all my fault. It should have been me that died."

I couldn't believe he was apologizing for that now of all times. I mean, if it wasn't obvious I'd forgiven him for that long ago, it should have been after Christmas, but the fact that he still thought about it. That he still felt guilty about it almost overwhelmed me and I climbed onto the bed next to him and held onto him as tight as I could. I said to him, "Don't say that. It was not your fault. You were tricked and it could have just as easily been you that died."

He said, "It was still my fault. I led them to you."

I appreciated him still feeling responsible for what happened, but he really wasn't. I mean, Dave got into all that because D'Amico wanted to get at us for what we'd been doing to his organization. So to try and get him over it I said, "Fine, If it was your fault, tell me one thing that should have clued you in to it being a trap."

He sat there and he really thought about it. He spent at least a minute trying to think of something.

Finally, he said, "Nothing."

I said, "You sure? You've thought about everything you two did and talked about? Nothing suspicious, even in hindsight?" 

He said, "No."

So I said, "Then it's not your fault," dope slapped him, and called him a dumb ass.

That seemed to snap him out of it enough to smile at me.

Then he tried to get up and he groaned and fell back into the bed, too sore to stand.

I asked him if he sore and he just grimaced and nodded his head. I told him I wasn't surprised after the beating he took, and he said, "I know. I'm gonna catch hell from Katie."

I immediately changed the subject. To his nightmare. Not really the best move, but I had to act quick to get off the subject of Katie.

He said he didn't have them often, just if something made him think about the night I saved him. Which explained why the first thing he did when he woke up was apologize for what happened. I figured it was seeing that motherfucker again. He confirmed it and I said, "Well, that just gives us another reason to kill him."

He laughed and said, "As if we needed any more."

Now that I'm thinking about it, I wonder what would trigger the nightmares before. I hope he didn't have any on Christmas, what with him giving me that statue an all.

Anyway, he finally forced himself to his feet and hobbled to the bathroom for another hot shower to try and relax his sore muscles and wash off the rest of the blood.

I talked with him through the wall while he showered, trying to resist the urge to actually go in there with him, and convinced him that we needed to do something fun to relax. BEFORE he called Katie and got his ear chewed off.

I mean, Daddy and I always did something fun after a mission. Like, going to a movie, or to dinner, or bowling. Sometimes even after training.

After his shower I had Dave sit down so I could see what I could do to cover up the cuts and bruising. I had some concealer in the bag I had my clothes in, and I'm still not as good as Jessi, but I'm pretty good. Dave objected, saying he could do it himself, but I told him to just sit down and submit to it since I wasn't going to have him walking around with me if he looked like a run over road whore.

We didn't want to risk running into our parents, and we only had a few bucks that where in Dave's spare clothes so we decided to pick up some breakfast at a McDonalds and go eat in a park. It was really nice to just sit on the grass and eat, enjoying the sun and peace. We talked, about things unrelated to costumed heroism, for awhile. Catching up on what'd been going on with each other in school and stuff.

Eventually he stopped responding to what I was saying, and I looked over to see him sleeping. I thought about waking him up, but he needed it, what with that nightmare and all. Instead I moved over and lay down with my head resting on his stomach and let myself drift to sleep.

And if Katie has a problem with that, she can go eat a dick.

I really wish our day could have ended there.

Of course it couldn't though. We did have to get up and face the aftermath of a public superhero brawl, even if we were facing it privately.

With no bus fare and without a phone we had a long walk ahead of us, and everywhere we looked there was something about the brawl. We picked up a discarded newspaper along the way. Everything on the front page and nearly everything in the first section had something to do with it. Reports on the fight itself, Hit Girl, the body count, the clean up, Hit Girl, witness accounts, speculation on who was under the masks and why they did it, Hit Girl, and of course how and why it was allowed to happen. There was also an article on Hit Girl.

I guess I did draw a lot of attention with that entrance. I bet Daddy is rolling in his grave right now.

There IS a nice picture of Dave and I together though. Probably the first one taken. We're standing next to each other savoring the taste of victory. Well, Dave might be enjoying still being alive more than the taste of victory. I clipped it out and have it stuck to my mirror. There's nothing incriminating about that is there?

Anyway, when I got home Marcus was waiting for me. First words out of his mouth when I walked in the door? "We need to talk."

Despite driving me to the fight, he was obviously displeased with what happened yesterday. He went on and on about how he didn't approve of and couldn't condone my actions. How it was reckless and illegal. And THEN he started in on the fact that I'd just killed over a dozen people and how I didn't want him to get started on THAT. He must have lectured me for a solid half hour. At least.

And then he said, "But I'm impressed."

I'd started to zone out by that point but when he said that I was wide awake.

"Yeah, you kind of ambushed them, and yes, they were tired, but your aim was amazing. I watched the tapes a few times and you didn't miss any of those thugs and you didn't hit a single" he paused then, like he was trying to spit the next word out, "Hero."

I had to grin at that.

Then he continued with, "And I really had no idea you could move like that. I mean, I've seen you work out and practice your gymnastics, but that was like something out of an action movie. I really have no idea how your father trained you to be that good, but I guess psychotic determination will get you results."

He paused for a minute, like before when he was trying to say "hero", but a lot longer.

"I don't like the idea of calling them this... but those guys you were fighting with really were heroes. That guy in the orange..or red... whatever. The guy with the sword. He made terroristic threats against the people of the city and even though we showed up (by "we" he meant the NYPD), we were told to let them be because they weren't actually doing anything. Because he said he was only going to attack the public if the heroes didn't show up to stop them. Because he said they'd start in on the police if they tried to break it up. Because the people in charge actually thought it'd be good to just let their two problems take each other out while they protected the civilians. And I just KNOW that at least one of the people giving those orders was on the take. I'm getting off track.

"Those guys showed up for a fight, knowing this guy was out for blood, to protect people. A lot of them were injured and more than a few died, but they showed up and risked their lives and it wasn't even their job. You went out to protect people. I don't approve of your methods, but I can respect your intentions." It actually looked like it caused him physical pain to say this next part, "And with psycho's like that out there, I think we need you. You can go do your Hit Girl thing."

I leapt up and hugged him so hard I knocked the wind right out of him. I yelled, "Thank you" over and over and over before running upstairs.

He yelled after me, "Just keep it low profile and try to NOT kill people!"

I yelled back, "No promises!" and dove for my phone to call Dave. That's when I remembered something. I went back down the stairs and asked "What about the restraining order? Can you get it taken off?"

He just shook his head and waved it away, "There never was one. What would I have said it was for? Encouraging irresponsible behavior?"

I was too happy to hear it'd all been him just blowing smoke up our asses to really care about anything else and said, "You really are a devious bastard." and ran back upstairs.

Where a text message from Dave was waiting: "Marty's alive. In hospital. Critical but stable."

I didn't have to contain my excitement so I didn't. Marcus came wanting to know what all the hollering was about and I jumped on him again yelling "He's alive!"

Marcus wanted to know who was alive and why I was worried he wouldn't be, so I explained about Marty being Battle Guy and him getting his head caved in in the fight yesterday. He asked, "Wait, Marty? Dave's friend? The short pudgy one with glasses?" When I nodded he said, "Jeez. And I thought it was your father starting the fucked up superhero club."

I explained that, no, Dave didn't have anything to do with Marty putting on a costume, and that Marty didn't even know Dave was Kick-Ass until about a month ago when they met at a Justice Forever meeting.

Now that I think about it I probably could have kept some of that to myself.

Well, I'm sure Marcus isn't going to tell anyone.

Anyway, Dave said he was allowed visitors and that he was already on his way to the hospital, so I asked Marcus if he could take me too.

It took some convincing, and a lot of effort to actually get to his room once we got there, but we did get there and I learned something new once we did.

Apparently being in a coma counts as being stable.

It was a real kick in the balls to walk into the room expecting to see Marty, ya know, awake at least, only to see him laying there in the bed, dead to the world, hooked up to a bunch of quietly bleeping machines. Dave was already there of course, with his Dad, who was talking to Marty's parents. Hell of a way to meet them I gotta say.

I sat down next to Dave who had just been sitting there, staring at him and not saying a word. I'm still new to the whole comforting people thing, so I just sort of put my arm around his shoulders and gave him a couple little pats.

He hasn't said anything about it since yesterday, but I'm pretty sure he blames himself for this. Ya know, since he started the whole costumed hero thing, officially at least. My Dad was doing it before him, I think his first attempt might have actually been before my first night out though. But he didn't make Marty put on the costume. Marty did it for his own reasons.

Marcus talked to his parents for awhile, adding his own condolences to the standard cop promise to hunt the guys who did this down and bring them to justice. I think I may have beat them to it though. Don't know which one of those cunts did it though so I can't be sure.

After awhile I got tired of just sitting there in silence so I dragged Dave out to get some food, and while we were out looking for a vending machine or something, someone called out from one of the rooms, "Hey, Dave! Come to see your old uncle John huh?"

Dave didn't seem to know what the hell the guy was talking about at first, then the guy said, "Don't just stand there in the door like that, come on in and give your uncle a hug or I'll have to _kick_ your _ass_."

It was like a light bulb went on in his head. He walked in and gave the guy a hug saying, "Sorry, just a shock seeing you like this."

Dave said he was glad to see the guy and asked how he was doing.

This old guy seemed to be really annoyed about whatever he was about to say next, "Heart attack."

Dave almost laughed and the old guy glared at him. Dave came back with, "I mean, of all things right? And you come out alive."

And that's when things started to click. I looked at the guy's eyes, and they had the same sort of look to them that D'Amico and a few of the other high level mobsters we offed had. Not as mean, but still the same sort of eyes.

He looked right back at me and after a second said, "So this is her?" 

Dave and I both said, "Who?"

He kind of smiled then and said, just loud enough for us to hear, "Hit Girl."

Dave started back peddling so fast it was almost funny, "What are you talking about? She's not Hit Girl. Why would you even think that? She's a friend of Marty and I's from school."

"Yeah, she's Hit Girl. She's got the eyes of a killer."

I'm still not sure what to think about that. I looked at myself in the mirror for a long time when I got home and I don't know what he was seeing.

I asked, "Is this who I think it is?"

We looked at each other for a second, and Dave was just watching us look at each other for a second, before the old man extended his hand and said, "Colonel Stars."

I took it and said, "Hit Girl."

He said I was younger than he'd expected, and guessed me at ten. (I'm still mad about that.) I told him I was almost twelve and he apologized and said that I was still a little younger than he'd thought, but only by a year or so.

So then he asked Dave why he said he didn't know me when they'd asked about me back when he joined. He said he'd been trying to protect my identity. Then he asked why _I_ gave it up. I said, "Well, he knows who you are, and you trust him, I could tell he wouldn't believe I wasn't her unless he saw the two of us standing side by side, and he knows that if he spills I'll kill him." I couldn't resist saying that last bit in my best "sweet little girl" voice.

Old Man Stars chuckled to himself and said, "That's usually how it works."

Dave asked, "So, do you know if any of the others got out alive?" 

Stars said he knew Captain Stripes was dead, and that he thought Insect-Man survived, but he didn't know anything about the others. We talked for a little bit longer, but we didn't want to be gone from Marty's room for too long. It ended with the Colonel telling us to come visit him again sometime and that when he got out he'd post on the registry.

All in all though, for an ex-mafia born-again christian, Colonel Stars is a pretty cool guy.

When we came back, Marcus asked how much longer I wanted to stay, and if he should come back for me. I looked at Dave to ask what he was going to do, and when it looked like he was going to stay, Marty's mother said, "We appreciate you being here, and I'm sure Marty would as well, but you can go home dear. There's no need for you to stay here like this."

The Dad added in, "Yeah, it's not going to make any difference if you're here or not so there's no point in sitting there all the time. You're always welcome to come back though."

Dave agreed with them and said goodbye and that he'd be back soon.

I walked out of the room with him and Mr. L to see if he wanted to hang out for a bit and tell him the retraining order was all bullshit. But he said he just wanted to go home and get some sleep. I guess I can't blame him. He's probably still sore and I bet everything that happened is still taking it's toll on him.

Marcus asked if I wanted to get some ice cream or anything. Now, ice cream always appeals to me, but I'm pretty sure he'd want to go to the NYBC that Riley works at, and I just did not feel like dealing with her, so I declined, but I told him getting food would be great.

I wanted to get a steak, but that was more than Marcus was willing to spend so I just got their Super Burger. He was surprised at the way I tore into it, but if I'm going to be hitting the streets again I'm gonna need to start upping my protein intake. I did get ice cream there though. It was just a little hot fudge sundae, but after that burger I don't think I'd have had room for the sort of thing I get at NYBC anyway.

I sent Dave a text to see how he was doing after we ate, but he hasn't responded so I guess he's asleep. I probably should turn in too. I do have to go to school tomo

Shit.

TODAY was a school day. Fuck. I guess I should go talk to Marcus about writing me a note for school. That's sure an upside to this at least. Marcus can help me come up with excuses for OH GODDAMNIT! What is Dave going to do? How did he explain being out all night to his dad?

Unless he knows... I mean, it's possible, but aside from that comment about needing to be kick ass to get a girl like Katie at Thanksgiving I can't think of anything that might mean he did, and I know Dave hasn't told him...

Well, Dave's been pretty good at coming up with stories so far so I'm sure he came up with something. Or, he will, if it hasn't come up yet.

Anyway, I'm gonna end it here tonight. It's been a hell of a weekend and it was good to get it all out of my head, but I need to sleep.


	59. Chapter 59

_**Mako's Message: **__Hey all. Long time no see, ya? Well, the good news is I have an apartment and am moved into it, and I've got childcare...more or less, depending on how much more I can mooch off friends of relatives. XD  
Bad news is I don't have any home internet, so I'll only be able to update once, maybe twice a week. But that's pretty much what I was doing before isn't it? The difference is that the updates will be on Thursdays and Saturdays or not at all.:\  
Anyway, I've got more to talk about but that's better fit for __**the forum**__ so go check out what I put up there after I'm done uploading this. __**SERIOUSLY**_.

* * *

Heroes:

Deceased-

Captain Stripes

Remembering Tommy  
Night Bitch

Blazer  
Jade  
Yosh!  
The Whip

Pwnge  
The Watchman

Captain Liberty  
Nyx  
The Dragon  
FoxFire  
Action Man

Commander Black

Hitman

Injured-

Insect-Man

Battle Guy  
Colonel Stars

Nighthawk  
Faey

Arachno  
Wonder Girl  
Dr. Gravity

Retired-

Knight Man  
Shadow

Authority

Whisp

Avenger

Trashman

Lycan

Third Strike

Untouchable

Striker

That Guy in the Cape

Judgment

The One

Warrior

The Deterrent

Amp

Hunter

A Minor Hero

Agony

Cutter

Major Pain

Active-  
Biker Knight  
The Guardian

Sting

The Gentleman

White Mage  
Shield  
Kick-Ass

Hit Girl

Villains:  
Deceased-

Tyler McKiness  
Lamont Dewgood  
Beasley Johnson

Warren Monesieur

Erika Newmen

Gerry Powers

Thomas Jericks

Alan Thompkins

Jamal Humphry

Jake Mcgillian

Samuel Miller

Yousef Gunduz

Peter Micheals

William Wood

Ferris Collier

Edward Williams

Mark Boggs

Richard Sledge

Thomas Filller

Gregory McDurmot  
Anthony Inova  
Yuri Greensman  
Noah Walker

Joe Hooker  
Samantha Mortez  
Lewis Beuller

Adrian Blackman

Elizabeth Rose

Wounded-  
Fraiser Durwood

Ian Nelson  
Paul Masterson

Felicia Siefert

Damon Griffon

Alexander Cole

James Parker

Eddie Hardy

To Kill-

Chris D'Amico

All the other douchebags that got away.

* * *

**_Return of the Son of Mako's Message: _**_I apologise for the terrible formating. I couldn't fix it. :(  
_

_And I almost forgot this. **DangerousBeauty84** made another AWESOME video:_ vimeo _dot_ com _forwardslash_ 27130342


	60. Chapter 60

**_Mako's Message:_**_ Ah. Here we are. The end. _

_Of Act One. ;)_

Almost all of the key points in this story have been planned out already, but as you've all witnessed this story has a tendency to take on a life of it's own. So sometimes things fall into place, sometimes they don't. This is one of those times where it did. Two more acts to go, and if I had to give them names, I think this one would be called, "Reemergence", or maybe "Mindy Rising" XP

Anyway, I'm sure you wont mind if it does take me another 60 chapters to get through Act Two, but I'm going to try to avoid that.

Oh, and I'm going to start writing some other stories for Kick-Ass. Most of them will be the "Series of one shots" type, and I'm going to try and get, but no more than, one up for each of the ideas I have before diving into Act Two. I think you'll enjoy them. I put up descriptions of them in the forum if your interested. I'll tell of you right now that one of them, is, in fact, directly related to this story.

Anyway, enough of my ramblings. On with the chapter.  


* * *

The entire school is talking about either "The Times Square Brawl" or "The Easter Massacre" (depends on who you're talking to, I guess time will decide). Anytime I hear someone talking about it, especially when it's about Hit Girl (and after my grand entrance onto the scene people usually end up talking about me.) I have to fight off this stupid, "Yea, I'm awesome." grin.

Daddy probably wouldn't be too happy about that though. He always said we needed to stay undercover. Secretive. Like Biker Knight and "The Samaritan" did. (There've been some people wondering why he didn't show up by the way. If they only knew.) It couldn't really be helped though, unless I wanted to let all those people die. Of course, Daddy would never have let the last D'Amico win anyway.

Oh and there's been a three-way debate going on about who is the most bad-ass hero. Biker Knight/Shred Ranger(It's still a pretty even split on which name people use. Even the poll was nearly dead even.), The Guardian, or Hit Girl.

The Guardian gets points for going through the whole fight unarmed.

Biker Knight gets points pretty much for pure bad-assery.

I actually LOSE points for "sucker shooting" people and showing up late, but I'm so awesome it's still not enough to put me out of the running for "most bad-ass superhero."

Erika is a wreck. Todd told us he visited Marty not long after we got there and Erika was there, and was still there when he left. She spends a lot of time crying on Katie. I guess they really had something.

Speaking of Katie. Katie... has not said anything to me. Which, is weird. I know she knows Dave is Kick-Ass, so I was kinda worried that she'd figure me out after this, but she isn't acting much different towards me than usual. Maybe a little more distant, but it's not like we were ever close.

Angela and Jessi were surprised that I ate lunch with Dave the first day back. They asked me later why I sat and talked with him all of a sudden after I'd been avoiding him and shooting glares at his back for the last few weeks. I never told them about the restraining order, of course, so I just said he did something that pissed me off and he finally nutted up and apologized for it.

They just nodded their heads as if that's what they expected all along.

So, other than that, school hasn't been much different from usual. Well I had some fun going into the office and telling them "The restraining order has been removed." and walking right back out. I loved the look of confusion on their faces. Should they believe me? Shouldn't they? Who do they call? Marcus? The Police? What'll happen if I'm telling the truth and they try to keep us separated ?

But all that's just the obligatory catch up.

Tonight was my first night out on patrol with Dave. As partners.

It's bad that saying Dave and I are partners makes me giggle, isn't it? Well, I don't care. We're partners. Dave is my partner. I'm his partner.

He seemed to think it was really important too. I would have been happy with just a fist pound before heading out, but he had something so much better planed. He picked me up at the house, out of costume of course. He asked where Marcus was, since he was expecting some sort of speech about keeping me out of trouble or something. I told him that Marcus left the house awhile ago and didn't want to know anything about what we were doing. Plausible deniability and all that.

Dave seemed to think that was hilarious for some reason.

We pulled into a dark parking lot to change into our costumes. Well, "change into" isn't exactly right. We were both wearing our suits under our clothes, so it was just of matter of pulling off our jeans and jackets and switching our shoes.

Dave finished before I did since I have to tie my hair back and everything, and when I started to put my mask on he suddenly stopped me and asked if he could put it on for me. Right now it sounds like an odd thing for him to ask, but at the time I was too busy feeling glowy to say anything but "sure."

And the bastard put my mask on wrong. Intentionally.

When he stopped me from unblindfolding myself I said, "I didn't know you were into that."

He spluttered for about five seconds before he decided I was joking and said, "I just have something I want to be a surprise for you."

Kind of a shame. What I was thinking of might have been more fun.

So we got out of the car and he lead me down this alley. At least, I hope it was an alley. If I find out he lead me down a main street like that I will kick him in the balls so hard he'll have to go through puberty again.

Anyway, he sent me up a fire escape and when we got to the top he finally said I could take off the blindfold.

I don't know what I was expecting, but it sure as hell wasn't an empty roof. When Dave gave up on me figuring it out on my own, he said, "It might help if you turn around."

So I turned around and I was looking at an old billboard advertising some perfume, and I'm looking at this and then it finally hit's me.

We were on Rasul's building. Where we first met.

He looked at me and then across to the billboard and said, "I figured if we were going to do this, we should do it right. Ya know, go back to the beginning."

I was grinning like the fucking joker and I asked, "You're not going to pussy out on me this time are you?"

He laughed and said, "I think my day's of pussying out are far behind me."

I said, "c'mon then." and ran for the edge. Dave was a step behind me all the way to the edge, and when I leapt, he was right there with me.

We landed, rolled and came to our feet, Dave looked a little pale, but I could tell he felt just as exhilarated as I did. He held out his hand and said, "Partners?"

I clasps hands with him and said, "Partners!" and we set off in search of crime to stop.

We didn't find any, but I'm okay with that. Tonight was awesome enough as it was.


	61. Chapter 61

**_Mako's Message: _**_So, uh, funny story. This is where I'd normally announce who qualifies for the bonus chapter, but I...uh...forgot my notebook. :$ If I went back to get it, I wouldn't get back in time to post this chapter and I figured you guys waited for this long enough... So the bonus qualifiers will have to wait for the next chapter._

_Anyway, here we are! ActII! Where the fun and adventure really starts happening. Hopefully. No, really, I have a lot of stuff planned, it's just up to you to decide if it's fun and adventurous. lol. We're also going to be covering three years in this one act. So it's either going to be a really long act, or I'll be skipping over fairly big blocks of time. Hopefully it'll be closer to the second one. But there's lot's to do so it wont be short. Vampires, serial killers, and blood knights, oh my! (Just trust me on that first one, k?)_

_Enough of my ramblings, on with the story!_

* * *

Being a super hero ssu~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~cckks~~~!

Seriously. I have never been so tired in my life. I have no idea how Dave was pulling this off. And he has a JOB! I just go to school!

When it was just me and Daddy, we'd train hard, and we'd have late nights, but then I could sleep till noon. I go out with Dave until two or three in the morning and I still have to get up at six thirty to go to school. I think this was the first time in the last week I got more than five hours of sleep. It sure brings new meaning to TGIF, that's for fucking sure.

School has just been a fucking nightmare. I'm falling asleep through half of it, and I can barely remember the other half. Angela and Jessi thought it was funny as hell the first couple of days, but by the end of the week it got so bad that I didn't even notice when Jessi took my sandwich out of my hands and even she couldn't laugh after I'd taken two bites of a sandwich that wasn't there.

If Marcus is concerned he's not showing it. If anything he's trying to make it worse, suggesting I take a summer job. No idea what he thinks I'd get hired for. I mean, isn't it illegal to hire anyone under sixteen or something? Might have to look that up.

Dave just shook his head and gave me a "I feel your pain." grin before offering me a five hour energy bottle. Said he's bought enough of them that Kick-Ass should be their spokesperson. Heh. I can see the adds now, "I'm kick-ass, and what keeps me kicking ass all night is five hour energy!"

He also said that when he get's home from school on days he doesn't work, he sleeps until dinner. It's caused his dad some concern, but he's gotten by pretty well with it. I should probably do that. Get back from school and crash until dinner, or patrol. Whichever comes first.

And that's something else entirely. After seeing him as this phantom crimefighter The Samaritan, I couldn't believe how open he is as Kick-Ass. The other night we were on a roof watching this little park that was supposed to be a pretty popular spot for drug deals, and I mentioned that I'd missed dinner, he just said, "Be right back." and headed down to street level. He came back about five minute later with two hot dogs and a couple of cokes.

I really wanted to yell at him for doing something so... pedestrian as going to a hotdog stand while suited up, but the hot dog looked too damn good and I was fucking starving so I just scarfed it down and chugged the soda without comment.

Then again, Daddy and I were very precise. We knew where, when, and who were going to strike. So we'd only be out for an hour or two. Longer if we were staking a place out, but then we'd be waiting in a car usually, and if we were in costume Daddy would bring food with us.

Dave and I are going out there not knowing where, when, or who is going to commit some crime for us to jump on. And we're on the move a lot, usually on foot, and the rooftops and alleys can only get you so far. I really hated the first time I had to walk out on a well lit street. I felt so exposed. Dave wasn't phased at all, he just walked down the street and even had a fucking conversation with some guy.

It did get us some good info though. The guy told us about these gang bangers that were always hanging out in the alley behind his house, so the next night we swung buy and kicked the shit out of them. Dave did insist on telling them to leave before we "resorted" to violence. He wouldn't even let me kill them, said we should leave them for the cops. I mean, really! What the fuck did he think I brought my butterfly sword for? And are we trying to clean up the streets or pack criminals into the prisons like sardines? Scum just festers in prison. It's totally pointless. It's best to just end them right then and there, but Dave insisted we at least try to keep our fights bloodless. He said something like, "We don't want the cops after us, do we?" He stressed "cops" not "us" though, which made me think of Marcus and I didn't want to cause him more problems than I already had so I stuck to my knucks.

It was kind of cool when Dave just walked up to them and told them they needed to clear out. If I hadn't heard him try it with Rasul I'd think it was just a case of second hand balls. Though, there were only four of them, so Dave probably could have handled them on his own anyway.

They must not watch the news though, or they live under or a rock or something, since they obviously seemed to think they could take us. Maybe if I'd held onto my weapon they might have taken his threat a little more seriously, but they didn't, and I got to break some faces, so it all worked out in the end.

Another night we met a brighter couple of crooks. We spotted them running for it after robbing a convenience store and chased after them. They turned into an alley, and Dave said I should keep after them and he was going to try and cut them off on the other side. So, he took off and I chased the robbers. He did actually beat them to the other end of the alley, so I guess he was really keeping up with that jogging course while I was grounded. He yelled, "Hold it assholes!" and the two guys stopped , but only because I think they weren't going to be able to keep running much longer anyway.

They didn't look like they were going to go quietly though, since they both pulled knives, "We're not afraid of you, motherfucker, we saw you get your ass kicked online. You're nothin'!" I don't know which video they were talking about, but it obviously wasn't the "He's back" one, or they would have turned and ran the other way.

Dave laughed when they said that. He said, "Okay, so you're not afraid of me. What about her?" and pointed past them at me.

They looked, I spun my butterfly sword onto my shoulder, said, "Sup, cunt's?" and the two ran like bat's out of hell. Right into Dave's batons. It was awesome. No idea what hit them. They turned and ran and Dave clubbed them both right between the eyes as they tried to get by him.

Okay, so, being a superhero is actually awesome. It's having to get up at dawn the next morning and go to school that sucks.


	62. Chapter 62

Dave and I are headline news.

Well, on the registry at least.

After the fight in times square all but six of us, not counting myself and Dave, hung up their capes. The rest of the people, who were pretty much just fan's, wannabes, or general supporters are still there. Everybody is talking about how we'd been seen working as a team. Someone even posted a topic in the forum titled. "What the hell Kick-Ass?" Calling Dave out on saying he didn't know me after the fight, and then being seen working with me less than a week later. Dave responded with, "I don't know her _personally_. That day was the third time I'd met her. Our team-up formed later that week."

Someone took a bunch of the pictures of me, drawings and photos (a lot of the photos's sucked, except for two, which is good.), and made a video about me. It started with a voice yelling, "Holy fucking shit you've gotta love Hit-Girl!" and going on to talk up how much of a baddass I am, before ending it with a cartoon of me smiling and leaning on a spear stuck into some guy on the ground and yelling, "And she's so, fucking, CUTE!" It was awesome.

Anyway, we visited Marty today. No real change. But we sat and talked to him. His father was there, but he was asleep. We read a couple of the new comics to him. Didn't get any response from him, but I don't really think that was the point. I think Dave still feels guilty for getting him hurt, or at least for not talking him out of it. But it was his decision to become a hero and I think he would have done it with or without Dave's approval.

When we left Marty's room Dave stopped in the hall and asked me, "Do you want too..." and left it hanging.

I knew what he was talking about though, I'd been thinking about it myself, so I said, "Yeah, let's go see Uncle John."

He was surprised to see us. But happy. He said he didn't have any family who'd visit him. They'd all either stopped talking to him years ago because of his past or had ended up dead. He was pissed that they'd kept him in there, but with his age they wanted to keep him under observation for as long as possible. He said the fact that he had really good health insurance probably didn't hurt either.

He showed us a newspaper article about us. Said it looked like "they" were already making an impression and asked us what we thought about "them". I said it'd be nice if they could do something more "permanent" about the criminals. Dave rolled his eyes. John laughed.

Then I yawned.

"Late nights getting to you?"

I said, "The nights I can handle. It's the mornings that suck."

He laughed and slapped his knee and said to Dave, "I like this girl."

Dave smiled and said, "I like her too."

It was kind of retarded how much I liked hearing him say that.

Then he says, "So, I'm going to be getting out of here soon, and I was thinking of, uh, getting the club back together. I think we're gonna be needed more than ever after that freakshow. You two want in?"

Did I want to be on a team of superheroes? Fuck yes I wanted to be on a team of superheroes! It was a struggle to contain my excitement at the idea! John, well, guess I should call him Colonel Stars, smiled and said it'd be great to have us on the team. We talked shop for a bit longer, as discretely as possibly, before heading home.

And ya know what? I completely forgot about this until Marcus just asked me what I wanted to for it, but my birthday is coming up. I'm going to have to think about that.

* * *

**_Mako's Message: _**_Before I get to anything else, here's the list of bonus qualifiers._

DangerousBeauty84  
2wingo

KuroiHanabixShenny

Haily C. Black

Galloway

RobGill

JPElles

TorontoBatFan

dogbertcarroll

Proponent of Evo

Suto-Chan

MorbidCrow

100Monkeyman(formally Mypain Yourthrill)

Vanathor  
_  
All of the above should send me a message containing the e-mail address they would like the bonus chapter sent to. Make sure to spell out any symbols, _at_ instead of __, _dot_ instead of . etc. and I will send it out as soon as possible._

_As for the chapter, yeah, it was short. But that's nothing new. And, honestly, Mindy's birthday I actually figured as being February or March. But for plot purposes it's going to be about mid May._ ..._ I suddenly have the feeling I'm going to be booting up the old Time Compressor again... Anyway, hope you enjoyed, and I'll try get back to a semiweekly schedule for this story._


	63. Chapter 63

_**Mako's Message:** So, the bonus chapter has been sent out. If you didn't get it, resend me your e-mail address (or send it in the first place since I didn't get it at all from some of you)_

_Anyway, I hope I brought something new to the table with this chapter. And I'm sure all the people who wanted more DavexMindy moments will find something to squee over if they want to find it._

* * *

Okay, so I've been... well, half asleep the last few days, so forgive me being a little late on this, but...

They killed Osama bin Laden? Really? Took them long enough. I mean, I 've been planning on going over there when I finished High School to spend the summer hunting him down myself so that idea is shot but still, about fucking time people.

Anyway, I've never felt ashamed of myself before. But last night... I just feel like I let Dave down, and I know I let myself down. My Daddy raised me to be stronger than that. See, we had a tip that this bar was going to get robbed. It was "All-You-Can-Eat Bacon Night" and apparently that brings in a lot of cash. So we were staked out on a rooftop across the street, keeping an eye on the place and alleys around it, since muggings aren't uncommon around there. So, there I am, sitting on the roof, Dave just came back from a store with gatorade and power bars, and I'm tired of standing, so I sit down as I unwrap my bar, and then... I'm waking up in Dave's arms as he carries me down the fire escape.

It was the kind that has those steps that are on a weighted pulley system, so when you put your weight on them they lower themselves gently to the ground. Well, with both our weight I guess it didn't lower all that gently and that's what woke me up.

I was so pissed off. Dave thought I was mad at him for carrying me instead of just waking me up, or for giving up on the stakeout, but I was pissed off at myself for falling asleep like that in the first place. I let Dave down. He abandoned the stakeout because of me. I don't even want to think about how I'll feel if the place did end up getting robbed last night.

And to top it all off, when I told him to just march back up to the rooftop because we were going to finish our stakeout he said, "No Mindy, we're not. You're so tired you haven't even tried to get down yet." And as I realized that Dave was STILL holding me I just about died from shame.

I pushed myself out out of his arms and started to walk back up but he grabbed my hand and said, "No, Mindy. You're too tired. We're packing it in for the night." I argued with him about it, but he didn't even try to argue back. He just kept saying it wasn't safe for me to be out as worn out as I was. He'd seen me falling asleep at school and had hoped that over the weekend I'd recovered some, but apparently I hadn't so we were calling it a night.

I said, "Make me," and ya know what the fucker did? He picked me up, threw me over his shoulder and walked off with me. I started to fight with him while he carried me back to the car, but it didn't take me long to realize that if I couldn't stop Dave from picking me up and carrying me off that he was right. If anything happened, I'd just be a liability.

I went limp in defeat and told him he won, and asked if he'd at least let me walk back to the car on my own.

I was too ashamed to say anything else for the rest of the night.

I wanted to try and apologize to him for last night today, but I didn't get a chance to talk to him. Katie has been keeping him all to herself lately. And that's another thing that pisses me off about last night. Katie's been really clingy and shit lately so when we go out on patrol is the only time I've been able to see him.

I guess I'll try calling him again. I need to make sure he's not mad at me for failing the mission.


	64. Chapter 64

**_Mako's Message:_**_ Uhm... huh. Whatever I was going to say I can't remember it now. I guess I'll note that I have Katie and DAve inevitable break up planned, as well as it's fallout, and have had it planned for awhile. So it's all me. Or did I already mention that? Whatever. Do you guys want some more previews of thngss to come? Ya know, since I've been so good about actually getting to what I've already previewed. -eyeroll- or are you still happy waiting for THOSE tidbits to show up in the story?_

_So yeah, had fun writting this one actually. No DavexMindy fluff, just some Mindy being pervy. And hating on Katie. _

_Enjoy!_

* * *

Katie is really starting to piss me off.

I couldn't get any time alone with Dave all day. I had to apologize for falling asleep on the job by text.

He insisted that there was no need, and said I should just try and get a good night's sleep and we'd go out again tomorrow. You might not think it, but that actually made me feel worse.

I'm supposed to be the strong one. The one who saves HIS ass. But here he was telling me that I wasn't any good. That I needed rest. I don't fucking need rest. I'm a machine. At least, I'm supposed to be. That's what Daddy raised me to be. Strong. Unbreakable. Undefeatable. And here I was being told to take a night off.

So I went over to his house late enough that I was sure he'd be there if he was going to be there at all. Snuck in through the window of course, and woke him up.

He blinked up at me and said, "So we're making a habit of this then?"

It was cute, which was good for him, because it took me down from pissed to annoyed. And he looked damn good laying in bed with his hair all messed up. So yummy.

But that's not what I'm talking about.

I demanded to know what this crap about taking a night off was about. He said it was just that, a night off. That we couldn't keep going out every night. We'd run ourselves into the ground and be no good to anyone.

I called bullshit on him. He was doing fine. He wasn't falling asleep on watch. If he could do it than goddammit so could I.

He waved it of and said, "That's different, I'm older."

I said, "Explain."

He... really didn't want to. I thought for a minute that I was going to have to get physical with him to- … oh damn. Not often I get the opportunity to wrestle him into submission when he's half naked and in bed. Oh well. Missed opportunity.

Anwyay, I finally got him to spill and he said, "Mindy, it's... it's easy to forget, but you're only eleven years old. You're still a little girl." My first reaction was to say I was almost twelve, but I realized just before I said it that that's exactly what a little girl would say so I kept my mouth shut. "You're still... growing. You need sleep more than I do. I'm seventeen, my growing days are pretty much over. You're just about ready for a growth spurt, and, no offense intended, you need it."

I was ready to smack the shit out of him for that, but he saw it coming and raised his hands up and said, "But short is good! Shorter girls are cuter. I like a girl to be shorter than me. But, I mean, you're what? Five foot?"

I'm 4'11".

"You don't want to be that short forever do you? And If you slip up because you're exhausted you wont be doing any more growing."

I admit I liked hearing he liked short girls (which makes sense, Katie is closer to my height than his.), but I still think he laid the rest on a little thick. I got his point though. If I was going to be at my best, I was going to need to take a break now and then to fully recover.

"So, what are you suggesting?" I asked him.

"I think we should only go out on Fridays and Saturdays."

The phrase, "weekend warrior" popped into my head and I instantly rebelled against the idea. I countered with NOT going out on Fridays and Saturdays. Dave looked at me like I was crazy and offered "Every other day."

I tried, "A day off every four days."

He gave me, "Two days off every four days, plus a day just for training."

I said, "Four days on patrol, two for training, one day off."

Dave squinted at me and then put his hand out, "Deal."

I grinned, took his hand and said, "Deal."

And with that settled, I thought we could hang out for a bit, but he says, "You'd better get out of here. I don't what want to explain what you're doing in my room at midnight if he comes by and here's you in here. Besides, you're not the only who needs sleep and Katie wants to meet me for breakfast."

So we walked me to the window, I climbed out, he climbed into bed, and I came home.

Damn bitch is hogging him to herself even when she's not there.


	65. Chapter 65

**_Mako's Message: _**_Well, I think you guy's have been wanting this for a long, long time. Or maybe it's not quite what you wanted. It should be close thought. This is also where I was originally planning to end Act 1(you'll see why), but ending it back at Ch60 seemed like such a better breaking point._

_Anyway, read, enjoy, and then read it again because I know you're going to want to. ^_^_

* * *

I'm going to fucking kill that bitch!

I wanna rip her fucking bitch face off and stick her head on a pike!

Bad enough that every day, every day, she steals Dave off somewhere. Beginning of school, after school, his free periods, lunch. She finds him and drags him off somewhere. I go to his job, she's there, talking to him, always.

I think she deletes my texts. I text him at least once a day, but then he asks how come he hasn't heard from me. I say I have been texting him. He wonders why he hasn't been getting texts. He thinks it's a problem with his phone.

We go out at night, it's great. I've actually started hoping we DON'T run into anyone who needs a beating just so I can talk to him more. I've stopped caring about whether or not he goes and buys food or whatever. I like it when he does. We'll climb a fire escape and sit on the edge of the roof eating gyros, or burgers, or hotdogs, powerbars, fried chicken, soda, gatorade, whatever we feel like, it doesn't matter. We sit and we talk. It's great. My favorite part of the day. It's what I live for.

I think Dave loves it too. I can see it when he picks me up and he's still on the phone with Katie. He'll say, "Okay, sweetie, I'm about to go out on patrol now, okay, yeah, I love you. Bye." And he'll close his phone and sigh like he just took of a pair of boots that are two sizes too small, then he'll look at me and grin and ask "Ready to go to kick some ass?" and it just makes my fucking day and suddenly whatever I was feeling, anger, annoyance, boredom, it's gone. Just like that.

And out on the street, he's different from before. He's... cocky almost. It's like he'd fight a guy with one arm tied behind his back just to make it fair for the guy. He's just... he's loving it. We go out, and he's happier than I've ever seen him. And, I think that's what it is. He's in a great mood, and he's doing it cause this is what he does, but there's no anger in it. He's having fun.

He leapt off a roof the other night. It was a two story building with a big sign on the front, a purse snatcher came running down the sidewalk in front of us, so he hopped off the edge down to the sign, and then to the ground. Stopped the guy in his tracks. He tried to turn and run away but I'd followed him down and had landed behind the guy, so he turned and saw me with my swords out and I said, "Today just isn't your day." And he turned to run and Dave clotheslined him, then looked at me with a smirk and I knew exactly what it meant: "You set em up, I knock em down."

We tied the guy to a poll, checked the ID in the purse, then headed towards where the guy was running from to try and find the owner. While we walked he laughed and said, "Oh man, that was such a rush, I was totally freaking out."

I was like, "Over a purse snatcher, are you fucking kidding me?"

He said, "Of course not, jumping off the roof. I was only half sure that sign would support me. As soon as I was falling all I could do was think, 'I'm going to break right through this and be in so much trouble.'"

But that's Dave. He's such a goofball, dorkbag, idiot and it just makes me like him even more.

So, the nights are great. Couldn't be better.

Then.

Then that fuck, fucking bitchwore fuking cunt fuck had to show up and ruin it.

There we are, walking down the street, Dave's doing his Friendly-Neighbohood-Superhero thing and I'm walking along beside him doing my, Silent-and-Mysterious-Bad-Ass thing and then she comes running up, all "Oh, Kick-Ass, Kick-Ass, I'm so glad I found you!"

She stops when she sees me, and gives me this quick little, uneasy, almost scared, smile and says, "Uh, hello... Hit Girl" And then goes on spilling this totally fake story about how she needs help because people have been harassing her mom and people are always vandalizing the house and they're scared to sleep there and would you please come look and help and blah blah fucking blah.

I keep my mouth shut through the whole thing and step back into Dave's shadow so she can't get a good look at me and stand there glaring at her and we go off in the direction of her house, which was actually nowhere near her house and she's just talking and flirting with him because it was just a bullshit story and she needed a reason to go and talk to kick-ass without raising suspicion, but she keeps it up because she doesn't want me to know that she's wasting our time and pretending she doesn't know who's under his mask, and I keep silent and clench my fists so tight I leave little marks in my palms through my godammed gloves because I can't say or do anything that would let her know who's under my mask, and we finally end up at this house and she says it's hers and it's not so we check around it quickly because we know it's not her house and we have no reason to be there and then we leave Katie there saying no one is around the house, and she waves, and thanks us both and watches us walk away from the porch until she thinks we're far enough away not to notice that she doesn't go into the house and walks off in the other direction, and I'm so fucking pissed that I'm shaking.

Dave says, "I am so sorry. I don't know why she did that. I'll tell her not to pull something like that again."

I barely manage to grate out a "Do that." before we go back to patrolling. But it's late, and I'm pissed, and Dave is annoyed, and I'm not hungry so we just sit in an alley across from a bar waiting for it to close in case someone get's rowdy, and we don't say anything and Dave is just staring through the bar instead of watching it and I'm wishing I could choke the life out of that whore and trying to figure out why the bitch keeps trying to take my Dave away from me-

Time with.

My time with Dave.

The fuck...


	66. Chapter 66

"My Dave"

I've tried it out a few times since I accidentally wrote that, and I kinda like it. "My Dave."

I'd really like that, actually. He comes to me after or school or after work, and stays with me after patrol. We'd go home and curl up together. Massage out each other's sore muscles. Daddy used to give me backrubs after a hard day. I liked that. I bet it'd be a hundred times better if Dave was doing it. Just thinking about it gets my heart racing.

I want to kiss him so bad. I want to feel his arms wrap around me and hold me tight. He's the one person in this world that I can go to for any reason. He knows me. Knows all my secrets, except for this one, and doesn't judge me. He's a rock for me. Sturdy, stable, he'll be there for me for anything. To comfort me when I'm upset or to tell me I'm being stupid when I'm being stupid. He share's a part of me that no one else does or could even understand. I want to share all of me with him. I want him to share all of himself with me. I want him to be my Dave. I want to be his Mindy. I just want him. So badly it hurts.

But can I do it? Can I win him over? He's so fucking in love with Katie. She's just so...perfect. Perfect hair, perfect smile, perfect body, perfect grades. And she fuck's him stupid. I know it.

And even if they broke up, there's Riley. Dear god she's gorgeous. She want's him. It's so fucking obvious. Why wouldn't Dave jump into bed with her if things ended with Katie?

Why would he want me? I'm short and thing and flat. I don't have anything a guy want's in a girl. I don't have Katie's beauty. I don't have Riley's sex appeal. All I've got is the best muscle tone in my class. And even that's not all that special when you compare it to some of the cheerleaders, and who dates a girl for her muscle tone anyway?

Goddammit.

I have to try. I can't just give up. I don't give up. Complete the mission. I want Dave. I'll get Dave.

Somehow.

* * *

_**Mako's Message: **__Yes, it was short, but that's all I could really get out of her without getting into repetitive ranting. I have here for you though, finally, another list of teasers. The first batch was from the entire story. The second was supposed to be for just the next twenty chapters (HA!) This... will be a list of thigns to come in Act II. It contains old and new ones and they are in no particular order. Enjoy._

"'Mindy, you're crushing your cake.'"

"I've never been so embarrassed in my life."

"'If you want me, you have to take her too.'"

"'I know who she is! I'm not STUPID!'"

"She was fucking gorgeous!"

"Looks like I'll have to pay Jessi's friend a visit"

"'Why do you want to borrow a knife?'"

"I made sure he had a nice view of my ass."

"The body had it's heart cut out."

"I couldn't believe what I was seeing. I couldn't believe I was watching her die."

"It doesn't hurt. It just...pinches a little."

"'What is she doing here?'"

"I'm sitting there thinking, 'Dear god. How drunk did I get?'"

"It was the most horrible sound I'd ever heard."

"I have a really bad feeling that this is how Dave felt the night we met."

"'If I ever catch you, I'M GOING TO KILL YOU!'"

"I just couldn't kill her."

"'I thought it'd be fun to watch.'"


	67. Chapter 67

**_Mako's Message:_**_ I just realized how close we are to chapter 100. Kinda scary._

_Anyway, another short chapter, unfortunately. Haven't been too good on length lately have I? But this chapter just sets up other stuff for later so it couldn't really be helped. I'll try to do better with future chapters. _

_Oh, should have mentioned this, but I picked up KA2 #3 last week. Fun issue. Though it wasn't as bad/awesome as some of my reviewers had lead me to believe. And if there is a mole in Justice Forever, my money is on Insect-Man. But for this story, he's not. _

_Think that cover's everything. Enjoy._

* * *

Today was new comic day. Tomorrow is my birthday.

I haven't really talked much about my birthday since I've had other things on my mind. I wasn't really even sure what I wanted to do for my birthday. All my birthdays before this one, well, the one's I can remember at least, were quiet, simple things. A special breakfast, a gift or two, maybe a break from training. Nothing like what Angela had.

That's going to be different this year. Well, Marcus insisted it would be. Personally I'd have been just fine with some chocolate chip pancakes and a belt of throwing knives. Okay, that last bit isn't an option, but a book, or a DVD would be nice too.

But I have friends to invite this time, so I guess I really should celebrate with them. They do mean a lot to me after all.

It sucks that Marty wont be able to come though. I think he'd like it. We're going to this place that's supposed to be like Chuck'e Cheese for adults or something. It's got all sorts of games and shit and a real menu that's not just crappy pizza. Should be fun. I hope they have target shooting games that give you tickets. I will clean them the fuck out if they do.

We went and read comics to Marty again this week. Still nothing. But the doctors say he's recovering quite well physically. He just shows no sign of waking up. We were actually encouraged to keep coming back and talking to him, or reading to him. Anything that could help stimulate his brain activity.

Colonel Stars was there still, but he was being released that day. "Two weeks too late," he says.

We talked for a bit, not that long since he was eager to get the fuck out of there. He said that Insect-Man had come by, in his street clothes. He said he was currently suspended from the force, and with all the free time on his hands he was actually hoping that he would be reforming Justice Forever. I hope he takes the opportunity to change the name.

Dave asked if he'd heard anything from Dr Gravity, the only other member of Justice Forever still walking around. No word from or about him though.

But now that he's getting out, Colonel Star's said it'll just be another week or so before we can start getting together. He wants some time to get back on his feet and do a little more work on the headquarters since we'd be having a Guest of Honor visiting and winked at me.

I can't wait to actually be on a whole team of super heroes. With a real underground headquarters and everything. It's going to be so fucking cool. I think that's going to be my real birthday present.


	68. Chapter 68

**_Mako's Message: _**_Now this is more like it! Shame I can't get this sort of length out of every chapter. But sometimes there's just not a lot to say. _

_This is not, exactly, what I planned. But, stories have a way of mutating on you and there isn't much you can do about it. I hope you all enjoy it but feel free to let me know if you didn't. _

_Mmm... short message today. Weird..._

* * *

Today was... well. It was something. Never had a day like it.

Okay, maybe that's a bit of an overstatement, but it was still different.

It started like any other day though. I woke up, started in on my morning work-out, and was halfway through it before I woke up enough to remember what day it was. Marcus gave me a ride to school and on the way he mentioned that it was a shame I was too old for in class birthday parties. He said it'd have been fun to whip up a couple dozen cupcakes. I kinda have to admit that the idea did kind of appeal to me. It was a rare thing for Daddy to bake anything, but when he did I always loved licking the beaters.

When I got to school Angela and Jessi were lying in wait for me. Now, there are two levels to reflexes. The first... well, okay, three levels. The first is when you're not fast enough to react to an attack, the second is when you are, and the third is when you're not just fast enough to react to an attack, but fast enough to stop yourself from reacting. Angela and Jessi are lucky, and I'm proud to say, that I am in the third category. I mean, Judo throwing your friends into a locker would be a pretty suck-ass way of starting your birthday off.

Anyway, they pounced on me and yelled "Happy Birthday!" and everybody nearby started staring at me. It was kinda weird having people I wasn't even related to excited for me to be a year older. It was kinda nice too, but still weird.

They asked me how old I was again and when I told them I was twelve they were like, "I keep forgetting how young you are," and "I keep thinking you're older for some reason."

That's when I got a surprise; Jessi is younger than Angela.

Angela actually turned 14 last year, and Jessi won't turn 14 until next month. I seriously thought Jessi was older, I mean she's taller, her boobs are bigger, and she's dating and Angela isn't so I just kind of assumed she was older.

Anyway, they were more excited than I was to go to my party that night. They couldn't stop talking about it. This boy even came over and asked if he could come. I told him, as politely as I could, that there was no fucking way. I don't know who this kid is. He's never talked to me before. I think the closest thing we've had to a conversation is him staring at me in class.

Angela and Jessi tried to keep quiet when he came over but they failed miserably and giggled to themselves the entire time. Now that I think about it, I kinda feel sorry for him. He must have been even more embarrassed by them giggling at him(and his own friends laughing at him when he went back to their table) than I was at having some boy I barely know ask if he can come to my birthday party.

Maybe I should apologize to him or something tomorrow.

Anyway. I didn't see Dave at school again, but I did go sit with Todd for a minute to remind him he was invited to the party, and he said he wasn't going to go because he had a guild raid or something. I asked him if he was sure, but he just said it was something he had to do.

Now, I don't know what sort of rules or whatever there are in his guild but I'd think that going out to a party, even if it's mostly middle school girls, would be more fun than whatever the hell goes on in world of warcraft or whatever he's playing.

Speaking of games, I- no. Let's keep this in order.

When I get home I go straight to sleep. It was kind of weird at first, but getting five hours at night and then a few more during the day seems to be working. Marcus wakes me up later when it's time for my party, and there's a text from Dave saying he's going to be late. He said that Riley called him in to cover someone else's shift for a couple hours until she could get there, and that she was already going to skin the guy for calling off so I didn't need to.

So, for the first hour it was just me Angela and Jessi. Well, and Marcus too, but he wasn't really with us. He was just there. But the three of us where having a fucking blast. We shot baskets, and played wack-a-whatever, and there was this digital jump rope thing that was fun but glitchy because I know there were times when it said we didn't jump over the "rope" when I know damn well we did. I wanted to call over a manger or something and try and get credit for that bullshit but Angela said I should just forget about it because we were there to have fun.

And there WAS a shooting gallery. It was infra-red or something, because the guns didn't actually shoot anything, but it worked pretty well. I think some of the sensors were broken though, because there were a couple targets that I just couldn't hit no matter how carefully I aimed. I still set the high score though. The thing spit out tickets for a full minute. Angela had to go get a bucket for them all.

Fucking awesome.

I wanted to just keep playing until we ran the machine out of tickets, and Jessi was up for it too. But Angela said if we just kept playing one game it would get boring and that I already had more tickets than she'd ever seen someone win so we should go do something else. I really wanted to keep playing, I mean, if I could keep getting these scores then I might actually be able to get one of the really cool prizes. But I knew she was right. It would get boring pretty damn fast shooting the same targets over and over again no matter how many tickets we were winning.

So we went over and tried the racing games, which I'll admit I wasn't as good at as I was expecting.

Dave showed up while we were playing a dancing game. We were doing co-op songs and Angela and Jessi were going when I heard him call my name. It took me a second to find him in the crowd and when I did I couldn't stop myself from running over and hugging him. I probably could have restrained myself a little more though, since I almost knocked him over. But fuck it. It was my birthday and I was having a great time and if I wanted to hug my best friend then you better fucking believe I'm going to hug him all I want.

He smelled like ice cream cones.

He brought Katie with him though. I was annoyed but she didn't seem to be annoyed at being dragged to my birthday party, so I wasn't going to look bad by looking annoyed at her being there. And for the first time in a couple weeks she wasn't clinging to him the entire time and even jumped in to take a turn with Angela when her and Jessi's game finished. Dave and Katie played the next round, and then I took a turn with Dave.

We scored higher than he did with Katie.

I know, it doesn't mean anything. Angela and Jessi scored higher when they were playing with me than with each other. I just have better reflexes and coordination. But I still felt rather smug about it. If nothing else, I beat Katie at something.

Then Marcus came and found us and said it was time for us to eat. I sat between Angela and Dave, and Marcus was between Jessi and Katie. Katie actually ended up talking to Marcus about something. I couldn't make out what it was about, but that's fine. It meant I got Dave to myself.

Jessi seemed like she wanted to talk to Marcus about something now that I think about it. I don't think she did though.

I think Angela spent all of dinner wishing she could switch places with Marcus.

After dinner we decided to try the karaoke room before opening presents. It was Marcus' idea so he started off. He selected random and ended up with "Girlfriend" by Avril Lavign. He was a good sport about it and sang it straight. Angela and Jessi were laughing their asses off. Katie was trying to not laugh but she wasn't doing that great of a job at it. Dave just looked like he was too nervous about his turn to even pay attention to what anyone else was thinking.

I was thinking I wish I could have gotten that song. I think I picked a better one though.

Katie went next and sang "Hero" by a guy whose name I can't remember. It was hispanic though, I remember that much. Angela picked "Get The Party Started" by Pink, Jessi sang What Doesn't Kill You by Kelly Clarkson, Dave went next, but only because Katie pushed him to and said that the birthday girl should be the finale. I have no idea if he selected random, or just picked at random, or if he actually knew the song, but he sang "Party Hard" by Andrew W. K.. Maybe he picked it because of the whole party thing.

I honestly didn't know what I was going to sing when I walked up there. But I was looking through the song list and I came across one I heard Angela play and I was kinda nervous about it but since Marcus chose that moment to go to the bathroom I decided to go for it.

I took a deep breath, and took the first, small, step towards making Dave mine. I sang, "You Belong With Me" by Taylor Swift.

It went over rather well. I've only really sung when jogging, and that's just to help increase my lung capacity, but I Dave, and Angela clapped and cheered. Jessi looked kind of depressed, and when I came back said, "You're like, top of your class, right?" I don't know if there IS a top of the class in 7th grade, but I have a 95 or higher in all my classes so I just agreed with her and then she started ticking off on her fingers, "So, you're smart, athletic, and can sing. Is there anything you're not good at?"

I could have given her a few things but they wouldn't have made any sense to her, so I just punched her in the shoulder and told her to shut the fuck up and that she was a great singer.

Katie kept giving me weird looks for the rest of the night. I think she might be on to me.

Anyway, when Marcus came back we went back to the table and opened presents. Angela got me a box set of The Vampire Diaries, Jessi got me a trade paperback of the Kick-Ass comic which Dave and I have been avoiding just because we're not sure we even want to know what's in it. I almost wish it was the Red Mist comic believe it or not. That got pulled off the shelves so fast it was like they were never there so they're actually pretty valuable. Katie got me a John Woo double feature, which was a surprise because I didn't think she'd get me anything in the first place. Marcus got me a fucking Wii. I don't know what made him decide to get me one, it's not like I play video games. And Dave got me a My Little Pony collectible, which was disappointing. I think Dave noticed because he leaned over when no one else was looking and whispered, "I'll give you your real present when we're alone." into my ear. I don't know if it was him breathing on my ear or if he just has that affect on me but I haven't been able to stop thinking dirty thoughts about him since he did that.

I don't know what my "real" present is, but I'm trying to keep my expectations low because there's no way it's what I keep fantasizing.

After that Dave and Katie left and Angela and Jessi called their parents to be picked up. While we were waiting we went to cash in all our tickets. Angela managed to enough to get a t-shirt and Jessi decided to spend all her tickets on candy and gum. I couldn't find anything I wanted though. There was plenty of stuff I could get, like little stuffed animals, novelty banks, mugs, balls, and jackets, but I was still short of all the really cool stuff, like this really cool electronic dart board, so I ended up just getting credit for my tickets put on my game card for the next time.

When Angela's parents got there I realized that Jessi hadn't even reached her parents yet. Angela's mom offered to give her a ride home though, so it didn't end up being a problem.

Marcus works early in the morning so he went right to sleep when we got home. He said he had the Wii set up in the living room already and that he'd put a few downloadable games on them, so I've been thinking about checking those out. Dave and I made this an off night since it was my birthday and everything, so I guess I should head to bed now that I'm finished with all that. That's what we're taking nights off for after all.

* * *

**_Mako's Message: The Lost Messages: _**_I knew I was forgetting something. _

_2Wingo wrote a cute little fluff piece based on this story. You should all check it out. Oh, and it earns it's M rating despite being a fluff piece._

_Also, DangerousBeauty84 made yet ANOTHER amazing Dave/Mindy video. It's kinda dark and deals with some "trigger" issues, so watch with caution, but it's really good. You can find it at _**Vimeo** dot **com** forwardslash **28283999**.

_Enjoy. _


	69. Chapter 69

**_Mako's Message:_**_ Racing against my battery here_. _Hope you enjoy the chapter, and her gift. It's not much else after all. I'll get into more stuff she forgot about in the next chapter._

* * *

Dave knows me so well it's scary sometimes.

I admit I was hoping it was something, anything really, that involved skin-on-skin contact, but what he gave me was way better.

…

Okay, ALMOST better.

I didn't know when else I'd get a chance to see him alone so I went home with him after school. When I told Marcus I was stopping there after school his only complaint was, "Don't you want to try out the Wii?"

Not that I'm not interested in giving it a shot, but well, I had to choose between the Wii and my "real" present that Dave could only give me in private, so I chose the real present. Duh.

When we got there Dave checked the house for his dad and for a second I thought he was going to come back and say something like, "Now that we're alone, I can give you your birthday kiss." and then he'd lift my chin up and kiss me. And then he'd walk me backwards so my back was against the wall and he'd slide his hands down my sides and play with the edge of my shirt a little before sliding his hands under it and oh god that sounds good. I want that so bad it hurts.

But that's not what he gave me. Instead he took me up to his room and when I walked in he closed the door and told me to close my eyes. I was practically shivering in anticipation. And then he tells me to open my eyes, and he's holding out a staff. It looked like a normal bo staff at first. But after a second I realized it was a little shorter and thicker than it should be. He handed it to me and said, "I thought you'd like something you could actually use on patrols."

I confess, when I looked at it, I thought he was joking. There was no way this was my "real" present. Why couldn't he have given this to me last night? Why would he think I'd rather have this than my butterfly sword?

Then he said, "Now, this is something you can use on any mugger or purse snatcher, and I thought you'd like that. But what about when we go up against someone that's actually dangerous? Or we're out numbered? Or we find The Motherfucker? Well, if that's the case..." then he twisted the staff, and I heard it click, and then he pulled it apart, and these two, beautiful, blades appeared. As he pulled them apart they gave off that beautiful "shing" sound and the sun made them shine like they were god's gift or something.

He flipped them around and handed them to me and I was too surprised to even move for a second and then my face fucking broke into the most ridiculous smile and I took them and felt the weight and gave them a few quick swings to get a feel for them before practically jumping on Dave and thanking him for such an awesome present and how I couldn't wait to find someone I could use them on.

Dave got real serious for a second and said, "I don't think it'll be too long before that happens. That motherfucker will be causing trouble again soon." But then he went back to his dopey optimistic self and said, "But we can handle it. We'll kick his ass whenever he decides to show his face again, right?"

I said, "No we're not. We're gonna fucking gut his ass."

Dave grinned and we fist bumped as he said, "That's my Mindy," and pulled me into a hug.

Then he said, "So, do you mind if I take you home now? I wanted to get in a nap before work if we're going out tonight."

I really wanted to stay with him, but I wanted to spend a few hours with him tonight more than an hour with him now. So I let him take me home. Now I'm just trying to decide if I should take a nap too or try out the Wii.

Eh. I can try it tomorrow.


	70. Chapter 70

**_Mako's Message:_**_ So, I'm... not too happy with this chapter, but it does what it needs to do and I don't think it's going to get any better so here it is. Let me know if you can think of any way it could have been better._

_... ya know, I'd planned to write this really long message here... but I can't for the life of me remember what was so important. Oh well. Anyway, DangerousBeauty84 made another video, this one inspired by Ch68. Find it at _**Vimeo**_ dot _**com **_forwardslash _**2929163**_._

* * *

Well, Jessi and her boyfriend broke up.

Totally didn't see that coming. She seemed pretty happy with the guy. He was good looking, somewhat popular, and I thought he was treating her well, but that last one is kind of relative. Turns out he's been trying to get in her pants for awhile now, and last night he made a more determined effort than usual and when she shot him down again he ended it.

So, I'd have liked to congratulate her on sticking to her guns, but she was so devastated I was tempted to say maybe she should have given it up. I went over to Angela's today because we've kinda gotten into a habit of hanging out at her place on Saturdays, but when I got there I could hear crying and when I went up to her room Jessi was crying on her shoulder. Angela looked like she was going to ask me to leave them alone, but then Jessi looked up and held her arm out like she wanted a hug, so I went over and let her hug me.

Boy was that awkward.

I had no idea what to do or say. I have ZERO experience with anything like this. The closest thing I've had to this was my Daddy dieing and I dealt with it by killing a bunch of mother fuckers and then laying in bed crying and wishing I'd asked Dave to stay with me. Not really the same thing.

But I guess just doing that was enough because she stopped crying like, two minutes later and thanked us. My shoulder was still soaked though.

Even though she let us go, Angela was still rubbing her shoulder. I felt like I should be doing something, but just copying Angela would have made me feel stupid so I offered to treat us to ice cream. Jessi seemed to like the idea.

It's funny, it seems like it's always either Riley or Dave behind the counter, but I guess that's because we usually go there in the late afternoon or evening. So it was weird not seeing either of them when we walked it. To make it weirder the guy behind the counter looked like he should be in an office filling papers instead of serving ice cream. I mean he had a dress shirt and a tie on. And he didn't greet us by name either, obviously. I didn't think I'd gotten that used to seeing Riley there, but without her it was almost alien.

So when Riley did come in, for once in my life it was nice to see her. I didn't even mind when she said, "Hey Mindy, friends of Mindy" and sat down next to us.

The guy with the tie asked her if she wanted to clock in early and Riley just gave him this look and said, "So John called off agan, huh? I'll clock in early if we get more customers." Then she turned to us and asked, "So how are you ladies doing?"

Angela said, "Jessi's boyfriend broke up with her. We're numbing her pain with ice cream."

"Bummer. There'll be more though."

Angela asked, "More what?

And Riley said, "More boyfriends of course. When I was your age I had three or four each year."

I wasn't surprised by that at all, but Jessi looked at her and asked, "Really?"

Riley nodded and said, "And I dumped them about as often as they dumped me."

Angela and Jessi were practically hanging off her every word. It was like they couldn't believe any guy would dump this blond goddess.

"It didn't bother you? Getting dumped?"

"Well of course it did. If I was the one getting dumped it meant I liked the guy and he didn't like me and that always stings. But as I racked up a long list of ex's, it bothered me less, because I'd realized something. It wasn't that there was something wrong with me, it's that he was just looking for something I wasn't. Like, look up at the menu, kay? See all the sundae's and shakes and everything we offer? Well, what if you didn't know what you wanted, so you picked something at random, and then it turned out you didn't like it? Is there something wrong with what you ordered, or did you just not like it?"

Jessi just stirred her melting ice cream around in the bowl but Angela seemed to really be thinking about it.

I nudged Jessi and said, "Get it?"

Riley leaned over to look past Angela and asked, "Do you know why he broke up with you?"

Jessi didn't answer so I did, "She wouldn't fuck him."

Jessi went up in fucking flames, Angela looked at me like, "What the hell Mindy?", but Riley just raised her eyebrows and said, "Douche. Good riddance. Never give in to a guy like that. They don't care who the girl is, they just want sex."

Jessi's response was weird. She said, "He didn't care about me?" and for some reason it sounded like that made it all worse. I don't know why though. If it'd been me and I found out the guy was only dating me for a shot at my pussy I'd be glad I wasn't wasting any more time on the guy. I'd have stabbed him long before that though, if he was getting grabbier than I liked, of course."

"I feel like I'm on a roll here," Riley said, "You dating anyone?" she asked Angela, who said she wasn't allowed to until she was in highschool, so then she asked me, "What about you? Any luck with the boy you're crushing on?"

If it wasn't physically impossible to choke to death on ice cream, Riley would have killed me.

I told her she was insane and that I didn't have a crush on anyone.

Riley just turned to Jessi and Angela, "So who is he?"

Angela, the traitor, just giggled and said she had no idea who it was but that I had talked to this boy at lunch the other- I totally forgot to mention that.

I went to talk to the boy who wanted to come to my birthday party the day after. I hadn't been able to catch his name during class, so I just went up to him and said "Hey."

One of the boys he was sitting with answered. I don't know if he really thought I was talking to him or if he was trying to be funny, but I told him. "Not you. You." And I kicked his chair.

I guess he was still embarrassed about what'd happened because he couldn't look me in the eye, but I just needed him to listen to me not look at me so I didn't really care. I said, "So, I wanted to apologize for yesterday. I don't even know you, let alone dislike you, so I shouldn't have been so harsh. So, there. Sorry." and then for some reason I added, "Enjoy your lunch." I still don't know why I did that.

Unfortunately it didn't end there. I guess by apologizing I gave him his balls back because he came after me. He asked me if we could eat lunch together sometime and get to know each other, since I said I didn't know anything about him. It immediately made me regret feeling sorry for him. I told him, "I don't know. Maybe." and walked off. I mean, I don't have any reason to dislike this kid, but I don't have any reason to want to know him either. He's just a classmate.

Anyway, Angela went into this whole exaggerated story about how I talked to him at school, and that maybe it was him I was interested in. Why she'd think that was even a possibility I don't know, I still don't even know his name. Jessi disagreed, but she said she didn't even know I had a crush on anyone.

I told them all that was because I don't.

I really don't. What I have with Dave is more than that... It's a bond. We've depended on each other for our lives. We're going to be together, one way or another, for the rest of our lives, I know it. I just want us to be together out of costume as well.

Anyway, Jessi seemed to feel better after talking to Riley, so even though she barely touched her ice cream I guess my idea worked out.

When we were leaving Riley suddenly called me back and said, "Dave told me you just had your birthday, so I wanted to give you something," and she took one of their frequent customer cards and punched out all the holes and gave it to me.

Angela asked me how I ended up with all these cool friends. I just said, "I don't know. Why DO you two hang out with me?" That got a smile out of Jessi, a real smile, so I'm glad I came up with that.

After that we just went back to Angela's house where they tried to dig out who I had a crush on, but then I turned it around by asking why we never talk about who ANGELA has a crush on that's kept the conversation off of me since.


	71. Chapter 71

**_Mako's Message:_**_ right so, not much time, but here it is. I tried to get some set up for other things going, as well as just have some fun with this one. Hope you enjoy it. _

* * *

So, last night didn't go as planned. Dave and I were SUPPOSED to go out on patrol , but I had to call and make it one of our skip nights. Why? Because we had a sleep over.

It wasn't my idea.

After I turned the conversation onto Angela, I was able to just sit on the sidelines for the next couple of hours. When it got to be time for me to go meet Dave however, Jessi started getting clingy. She was really upset that I was leaving, she said she thought we were having a great day together and why would I want it to end so soon? And... I really had a hard time trying to come up with a reason to leave.

Jessi literally begged me to stay. She said she still needed her best friends.

Angela was no help what-so-ever. But then why would she be? She just stood there giving me a look that said, "Well, tell her you'll stay!" while Jessi gave me puppy dog eyes. I'm not joking.

So, since I couldn't give a good reason for why I couldn't stay, I eventually had to cave.

I told them I'd just have to call Marcus and ask his permission, but I didn't really. All I did was text him that I was spending the night here and he showed up with a sleeping bag, a change of clothes, pajamas, and my toothbrush so fast it was like something out of loony toons. What I did have to do was call Dave.

He was... annoyingly okay with it. I was kinda hoping he'd be mad that we wouldn't be able to go out so I coulld at least have some company in being annoyed about this, but he knew from Riley what happened with Jessi so he said he understood that my friends needed me. Kinda made me feel like a jerk for not wanting to stay with her, but I did stay with her and made that decision on my own, so I guess I'm not really a jerk.

This whole day had pretty much been a "cheer up Jessi" day, so when she suggested we play Truth or Dare Angela didn't put up any objection so I just went along with it too.

I stuck to Dare's mostly, since I really didn't want to get asked a question I couldn't tell the truth about. Didn't take long for them to make me regret THAT choice.

I think it was my fourth or fifth turn and Angela dared me to go downstairs, sit on her Dad's lap, say "I had a nightmare" and ask for a hug. I did it of course, I'm not a pussy. But I didn't play the part. I did exactly what I was dared to do and then got up and went back upstairs. Her father seemed to recover from that bit of randomness in time to ask me what it was about before I left the toom. I just said, "Truth or Dare."

He said, "Ah. Should've guessed." and went back to reading his newspaper.

Not long after that, Jessi got devious. When I picked "Dare" again, she said, "I dare you to tell us who you have a crush on."

I stared at the floor while I tried to come up with someone believable but harmless before they figured out what I was doing, and then it hit me. I could tell the truth and keep the secret. I smiled, looked up at them and said, "Kick-Ass."

And that set them into a fit of giggles and threw the game off for a bit cause we ended up talking about superheroes and who we liked. Angela said she'd actually thought Red Mist was cute before he turned out to be a douche bag (her word, not mine, surprisingly). I couldn't believe she could think he was cute, but then I am pretty fucking biased in the matter. I didn't really get a good look at him before he fucking shot me. The bastard. I can't wait to repay him for that seven fold.

Anyway, Jessi said she thinks The Guardian is cute(which Angela thought was gross, because the guy has to be almost thirty.), but she said her favorite super hero, period, was Hit Girl.

I had to really fight hard to keep that stupid, "Yeah, I'm awesome" grin off my face.

Angela chose that moment to nudge me and say, "Ya know, Hit Girl and Kick-Ass are partners, right? You might have to fight her for him." before bursting into giggles again. Leaving me with the strangest mix of emotions.

I might have to fight Hit Girl for Kick-Ass.

It's just so... weird and... ridiculous, picturing myself fighting...myself... and I couldn't let myself laugh because then they'd want to know what was so funny so I had to hold this all in and it was just... it was fucking surreal is what it was.

Before they stopped coming up with new questions or dares for each other I was falling asleep. We actually stayed up longer than I do when I'm out on patrol, so I really needed that sleep, but they kept keeping me up. They said we needed to stay up all night if we could. That it was a tradition.

By the third or fourth time they shook me after I started nodding off not only was I saying "Fuck tradition, I need sleep," but I was ready to punch them both in the face, so I took my sleeping bag and went into their guest room.

I was out as soon as I lay down on the bed.

But when I woke up I was being hugged.

Angela and Jessi had climbed into bed with me sometime during the night and Jessi had an arm around both of us. I elbowed her awake wanting to know why the fuck I was being hugged and what were they even doing in here. I mean, Angela has her own damn bed and if Jessi didn't want to sleep on the floor why didn't she sleep with Angela since she was obviously okay with it.

Apparently this is another one of their sleep over traditions. They all end up sleeping in a pile. Her bed, the guest bed, the living room floor, whatever. The first person who fell asleep chose where everybody else was sleeping. So, when Jessi was ready to sleep she climbed into the bed with me and Angela followed after.

I didn't like it.

I have no problem with them being all huggy with me, most of the time, but I woke up tired, and hot, and uncomfortable, and I was mad because I know I didn't sleep well because I had someone clinging to me.

So I got up, told them I had plans for that morning and had to go. They moaned about it but couldn't really do anything else about it because they were barely awake as it was.

I wonder how late those two loons were up, anyway.

So I called Dave to come get me so we could go do out run, and guess how he spent HIS night? He went out to dinner with RILEY. Apparently when he called Katie to say he ended up with a free night she said she was busy so after work he went out to eat with the blond bimbo.

But he seemed well rested so I guess his night ended earlier than usual anyway, so at least there's that.

But we got our run in, and we had a good spar, and then I curled up on the grass and fell asleep. I'm a sucker for a sunbeam. Shut up.

Dave was there when I woke up, but it looked like he hadn't napped, just sat there next to me while I was out cold.

We got lunch, he took me home, and... now I don't know. Homework I guess.


	72. Chapter 72

_**Mako's Message:**__ ...I need to work on my endings...  
Anyway, this almost didn't get up today because I had three possible ideas waring for the right to appear in this chapter._ This one won. Not sure why, but I'm glad it did, since it let me introduce something that's been needing an introduction for awhile now. Hopefully I'll be able to avoid getting mired down like I did with the last...6 chapters(Wed, thu, fri, sat, sun, mon) and actually cover some ground. Summer is within sight! 

* * *

Oh man was tonight awesome!

Okay, so, to start off I hadn't gone out for two nights in a row so I was actually rested and I was feeling great. Then, we didn't have anything solid, though there were a few messages about people in costumes committing crimes. I guess that motherfucker finally got his little group back together or something. I can't wait till we meet him or one of his little buddies. That's gonna be fun as hell.

But anyway, we didn't have any leads on where a something might be going down so we just decided on a basic patrol, which I usually hate because I keep getting stared at and people keep trying to take pictures of me. It's kind of hard to keep up the mysterious and badass persona when people keep trying to get in your face and take a photo like you're at a comic convention or something.

But tonight it was worth it. Why? Because we ran into another hero.

We were sitting in an alley after I'd had to tell another photographer to fuck off, when someone calls out to us, "Hello there, fellow protectors of law and order!"

And we turn around and there's The Gentlman. He takes he tips his hat to Dave, says, "Kick-Ass" then takes it off completely and does a little bow to me, "Hit Girl". It was so...weird but awesome and I think he was the first person besides Dave and Daddy to see me smile while wearing my costume.

Then he said, "It's a fine night to be out an alive is it not? I think though, that a night like this would encourage the louses of society to be out as well. What say you, that for tonight we join our forces against the villains of the world?"

Dave looked at me and I grinned and looked at The Gentleman and said, "Sure, why not?"

And the three of us headed down the street.

He really does get into the role too. He'd jump ahead and open whatever door he saw a woman about to go into, and he'd stop to pick up things that they'd dropped as well.

And later Dave spotted a robbery in a convenience store, and when he pointed it out to us, The Gentleman said, "The wretches! We must put a stop to this, yes?" We both nodded and ran across the street.

He got to the door first and pulled it open just as they were stuff the money bags into their jackets and he said, "That money isn't for you, you scoundrels."

They were both wearing skull masks that covered their face from the nose up, but otherwise were wearing normal clothes, the closest one to us pulled his gun and said, "Look fucker, we're taking the money and you're just going step aside an-" and that's when he saw us standing behind him and suddenly he looked a whole lot less sure of himself. He kept moving the gun around like he couldn't decide who he should be pointing it at. A rookie move really. Moving your aim around like that just makes it less likely you'll hit whoever you decide to shoot at. Bad for him, good for us.

So I pulled my new staff off my back and ducked around The Gentleman and broke the guy's wrist making him drop the gun before he could react. Which was good. With the five of us( well six counting the cashier) there wasn't much room to maneuver and if he'd had a chance to shoot he probably would have hit _somebody_.

I followed up my first strike by kicking him in the gut and knocked him into the cooler. Dave and The Gentleman both went after the other guy. He didn't give them much of a fight and they had him pinned against the wall with The Gentleman's cane pressed into his throat like it was a sword. Which was funny because I know there's a sword hidden in it. Don't know why he didn't pull it. I'd have if my guy wasn't unconscious. It's funny how little it takes to knock someone out if they hit their head just right. Of course, he might have been faking.

Anyway, we left them for the cops and went on our way.

The Gentleman said, "Nothing like a good bit of excitement to get the blood flowing, eh?" Then he yawned, "My apologies. It's been a long day for me. Would you care to join me for a cup of coffee? I know of an establishment nearby that welcomes we enforcers of justice."

Dave and I looked at each other and I said, "Sure, why not?"

So he lead us a few blocks away to this place and when he walked in the door, the man behind the counter called out, "Well now, haven't seen you in since before the big fight, and I see you've brought some real celebrities."

The Gentleman gripped his forearm and flexed his fingers as he said, "Ah, yes. I haven't been in top form. I was just given a clean bill of health this weekend. And this, as I'm sure you know, is Kick-Ass and Hit Girl. We were hoping to avail ourselves of your excellent brew."

"Well, it's good to see some new, and famous, faces in here. So, will that be two or three cups of coffee?" he asked and glanced at me.

I told him three. I'd rather they think I'm just really short than give away that I'm actually as young as I look. Took me three creamers and at least five packets of sugar to make it tolerable though and I still didn't finish it. Probably would have been better off just asking for a hot chocolate, or maybe a tea. Yeah, next time I'll get tea. I like tea.

Anyway, we talked a little, and the normal people...actually kind of ignored us. I mean, there were a few glances in our direction, but nobody was _staring_ at us and it didn't sound like anybody was talking about us. It was kind of nice. To be able to sit down and just have a hot meal. I mean, I like having our rooftop breaks, but sitting down someplace warm and having a cushioned seat was a nice change. Dave liked it too, so I think we'll be stopping by there whenever we're in the area.

We mentioned Justice Forever to him and he said, "It would be nice work with like minded fellows more often." and we said we'd be sure he was told when the next meeting would be, so that should be fun.

I wonder how Uncle John is doing( I like calling him uncle John more than Colonel Stars. He feels like an uncle). I haven't heard anything from him since the hospital and I didn't see him post anything about Justice Forever getting back together on the registry. But he said he needed time so it might be awhile.

The Gentleman stuck with us for the rest of the night. We didn't run into anything else that we needed to intervene with, but it was still fun to have him around. We actually kinda hung a few steps back and let him do his thing mostly. But it was a fun night. We stopped a robbery, teamed up with another hero, and found a nice place to eat that I don't feel weird going into.

Tomorrow is probably going to be borning.


	73. Chapter 73

_**Mako's Message:** -shoves chapter out, hands reader a pistol- When your done with the chapter, do me a favor and shoot it in the face. _

_This chapter was an absolute bear to write and I apologize that after almost a week this is all I have to offer you. The good news though, is that while ranting about this to a friend, I did come up with a completely re-written and vastly improved version of a scene I'd had planned for awhile. It was also inspired by the song _Burn It To The Ground _by _Nickleback_. So I really look forward to writing it, and this rewrite moved it forward in the timeline by a large margin, so you should see it in a couple weeks._

* * *

Well, Jessi seems to be over the breakup. Took her a few days but she's smiling and seems like her old spunky self again. It probably has to do with the parade of guys that have been coming by our table to talk to her. It actually started on Monday, so I guess the news of the break up traveled fast. When the first boy came by to talk to her she was wearing this tight little t-shirt, and when he left Angela said, "Behold the power the Boobs". They both seemed to think that was hilarious.

She hasn't been putting herself out there like she did to get the first guy though. Well, she isn't wearing look-at-my-tits tops this time, but the weather is getting warmer so she is wearing less clothing in general.

But there you go Jessi. That's something you're better at than me; attracting guys. (Not that I want guyS. I just want one.). That and you actually seem to know how to talk to people.

Angela thinks Jessi'll have a boyfriend by the start of summer vacation. Jessi said she didn't know about that, but would be happy if Angela was right.

I just can't wait for summer. Out all night and sleeping till noon. That's how I'll spend my summer vacation.

I'll probably be putting in extra hours soon anyway. Kick-Ass has been getting more messages about villains, and I heard Marcus come home one day saying something about "Fucking costumed freaks." So it looks like we'll be seeing more action at night. Can't wait.

I don't think those guys we beat on the other night were part of the his crew though. Those guys were only wearing masks. The motherfuckers gang tend to be in full costume. Who know though? Maybe they were and were just lazy about their costume. But it doesn't matter. Costume, no costume, we'll still kick their asses. And that motherfucker is gonna get his as soon as we find him.


	74. Chapter 74

**_Mako's Message: _**_Not particularly long (about average for me, really) but a fair bit better than the last one. Let me know if you'd like to know more about any of the characters in this chapter. Hmm... guess that's it for today. Enjoy!_

* * *

Just got back from the first meeting of the new Justice Forever.

It wasn't what I expected.

But in some ways it was even better.

First off, it was in the basement of a bar. There was one of those doors in the ground in an alley behind it and it opened up to an elevator. It doesn't work unless you turn a key inside the basement. And the door that leads to what the bar uses as a store room was heavy with a metal bar across it and a keypad locking it.

There was a meeting room with a large table and several chairs around it. It had this really cool stars and stripes design on it with Justice Forever (Ya know, when I first heard it I thought that name was lame. But it's kind of grown on me. I can't really imagine it being called anything else at this point.) written around the edge. There was also a mini-fridge full of sodas and energy drinks("No drinking on the job") and some shelves of snacks( granola bars, power bars, fruit, and of course chips and snack cakes). The other room had a bunch of shelves, framed news clippings on the wall, and a really sweet computer set up. There where three stations, one main one with a big screen, maybe forty inches, and the other two where off to the sides and had other smaller screens.

We were the first one's there and Dave commented on the added security to the doors. Colonel Stars said, "I wanted to beef it up because with people like that(he nodded at some news clippings about the brawl) around, I don't want anybody getting in here if they aren't welcome."

The others showed up not long after us. The Gentleman was first with Insect-Guy right after. White Mage was next, and I was surprised by her. For some reason I thought she'd be really sweet and have long flowy hair. Instead she she had really short hair and was actually kinda like me. She was a field medic in the war and when she came back and saw all this going on she knew exactly what she has going to do with the rest of her life. Dave asked her if she was a final fantasy fan, what with her name and her costume. She just smiled and said she wasn't, but her brother had been and she remembered him playing the old ones and seeing the character that was supposed to be the healer beating people with a giant hammer and thought it was perfect for her new life.

Sting came next. He had all these needles that he said were coated in sedatives and pain killers, so every time he hit someone with one they'd start to go numb. He tried to aim for extremities, since it's better if they can't feel their hands, arms, or legs, than if their chest or shoulders. I said I didn't think it could be that helpful, then he asked me if I'd ever tried to walk when my foot had fallen asleep and I could see his point.

The Guardian showed up next, he didn't talk much as first, but when he did he got into an argument with Colonel Stars. He said he liked what they were trying to do, but he didn't approve of them using violence so freely. He went on this rant about how they should've called the cops with the info to bust up that underage prostitution ring instead of kicking in the door and assaulting the guys.

Colonel Stars said he was an idealistic idiot. That the guys that ran places like that were scum an only responded to violence (I knew there was a reason I liked him so much.), that they deserved the beatings for what they were doing, and that even if the police did respond to their info, it'd take too long.

The Guardian walked out just as Shield came in, but that's fine. He was an asshole.

Sheild was a pretty nice guy though. He talked a lot and made a few jokes. His armor kinda reminded me of Daddy's, but it was a lot heavier and more complete. I don't think he could fight much in it if at all. But he said he wasn't really interested in hurting people, that he just wanted to be able to protect people, so I guess it works.

All of them, except The Guardian, were really excited to see me. Insect-Guy was glad that I decided to join this time around, and the others just wanted to say it was amazing to meet me in person (White Mage said I was smaller than I'd seemed at the brawl.) and that they looked forward to working with me.

After that it was just a pretty basic meeting. Colonel stars explained what he expected of them, a lot of it sounded pretty boring, but as long as I don't have to stop going on our usual patrols I guess I can tolerate doing some volunteer work.

Maybe.

Through the whole thing I kept waiting for Biker Knight to show up, but he never did. I asked Colonel Stars about it, and he said he couldn't find a way to reach him.

At the end when everybody was leaving, Colonel Stars motioned for me to stay. Once it was just the three of us he led us back into the trophy/control room and picked up a box from under one of the computer desks. He turned to me and said, "I considered doing this during the meeting, but I didn't think you'd like me giving away that kind of information and didn't want to ruin the surprise by asking your permission. Happy Birthday," then handed me the box.

I opened it and there was this belt with a dozen beautiful throwing knives. I was so surprised and excited that I just kept staring at them didn't say anything for long enough that he said, "Well, I don't really know what you like in your civilian life, but I figured this was something you'd enjoy, even if it is more of a "business" present.

I told him I loved it and gave him a quick hug and a thank you. I even surprised myself with the hug, but I guess I felt comfortable enough around him, what with talking to him in the hospital and everything.

Don't know when the next meeting is going to be. He has to look over the dates we all gave him for when we had free nights over the next month before he can schedule a group action. But that's okay with me. I think I'll be plenty busy anyway.

I just wish we had a higher fence around the yard so I could try out my new knives.


	75. Chapter 75

**_Mako's Message:_**_ Okay, so, I know the only really redeeming quality this story has is that it's updates pretty quickly, usually twice a week. So I'm sorry to have kept you all waiting for this one for so long. On the bright side, it is over 3,000 words so it goes beyond a long chapter and becomes and Epic chapter. This is by Precocious Crush standards of course._

_A scene in this chapter was originally planned for much later in the story, but as I mentioned, I received divine inspiration which resulted in a drastic rewrite and it be being moved way up on the time table. There's another scene in here that kind of made it in just because I decided that this was as good a time as any for it. Both I've been wanting to write for several months now, so I hope you like them. You also get ten bonus... actually, let's make it something a little more real. Anyone who can correctly identify the Ass Pull in this chapter gets credit for two reviews when it comes time for the bonus chapter._

_Also, in response to my question regarding if you'd like more info on the other super heroes, I've decided at the end of each chapter, starting with the next one, there will be a short bio of my original characters. So, who do you want to see first?_

* * *

Fuck have I had a day.

My phone is full of voicemails and text messages, I totally embarrassed myself in front Dave, my chest, head, and leg hurt like a bitch. Especially my chest. My suit stinks of alcohol. I really need to start carrying guns on a regular basis and... fuck I don't even know.

I'm just gonna try to do this in order.

Okay, so, today was the last day of school. It was pretty much a big party. Which was cool. The teachers just wanted to know if you were there, after that you were pretty much free to be where ever you wanted. Some of the teachers just let the class do whatever, one teacher turned his classes into a quiz game, and had real prizes for the students who remembered the most about what they'd learned in the year. And not even just in his class. He asked questions from every subject. Another put a TV in his room and played movies the whole day. I wanted to spend the day with Dave, but I was never able to find him. I think Katie grabbed him took him into some hidey hole.

Since I couldn't find him I ended up going to classes with Angela and Jessi. Like I said, the teachers weren't really doing anything important so as long as you were there for roll call then you were free to go. Which was good because it wasn't any of MY teachers that were doing the cool stuff.

After the final bell rang that boy who'd wanted to eat with me caught up with me. I totally forgot about him, but then he is kind of forgettable. Ran up and caught me by the arm, and his face was all red and he just kind of stared at me for a second before saying, "If I give you my number, will you call me?"

He caught me completely off guard and I just sort of froze up for a second and finally said, "Uh...I guess." Yeah. I'm real eloquent, aren't I? So he gave me this piece of paper with his name (Dillon) and phone number. Not sure when I'll call or what we'd talk about, but I said I would so I guess I will. Eventually.

I napped when I came home so I'd be rested for our night out. Though, I've gotten into the habit of napping after school so I probably would have anyway.

So, Dave came and got me and we took the bus (oh right, Dave's Dad has been working nights again, so he doesn't have the car at night anymore.) over to the safehouse where we suited up and went out.

The night started out pretty much as usual.

Then we heard the screams.

We ran rowards them and saw people running through the streets, some on cell phones, other's just running as hard as they could. They all seemed to be running from this bar so we burst into it to, ya know, save the day and shit.

Not our best move.

There had to be at least a dozen of the fuckers in there. All in some sort of costume. Though calling some of what they were wearing costumes is being generous. I swear there was this one guy who just had a mask tied over his eyes. He was kinda old an looked like he'd been at this for longer than the rest of them had been alive so he probably just didn't care. He moved pretty well for a fat ass though. I guess that's how he's lived this long.

The rest of them though... looked like they were trying way too hard to be scary motherfuckers(skull masks, spikes on the clothes and other bullshit). They were just lounging all over the fucking place. There were a few guys still at the bar harassing the bartender, some guys at a jukebox who'd just put on this kick as- er... fucking awesome song. Doubt I'll ever get to be in a fight with a soundtrack I couldn't have asked for a better one.

There were a few others playing pool, and there was this one black guy, who was thin but ripped with a rainbow bandana on who had his arm around this white guy who was almost pretty and looked absolutely fucking terrified. It would have been funny if I wasn't sure the guy was gonna get raped later.

I had about three seconds to take all this in before the room went dead silent and they all started getting to their feet. They started picking up their weapons; baseball bats with nails in them, machetes, broken pool cues, whatever. No guns though. We were lucky there. I probably could have handled it if it was just me and I had a gun, but Dave is a bigger target and nowhere near as agile as I am, and the only long range weapons between us were my throwing knives.

Dave and I both pulled our weapons and I drew my swords immediately. Dave looked at them out of the corner of his eye for a split second, and I know he wasn't questioning my going straight for them, he was wishing he had some. Hmm. That's an idea actually.

So they were all standing there, looking at us, and they looked excited. Like they'd been hoping we'd show up. The guy with the rainbow bandana spoke up, "Hey, before you kill him, I want to a piece of Kick-Ass."

Dave flinched, just a little, in shock. Then somebody else from the back said, "Don't kill Hit Girl either, not before I get a turn with her."

I didn't show any sort of reaction, I just settled deeper into my stance, but my heart started racing.

And that's when HE walked in.

Chris D'A-fucking-mico came walking out of a hall in the back, fastening his pants up while a girl crawled away crying. He looked at us and said, "Ah, I was wondering why it got so quiet all of a sudden." He looked at me and said "Glad to see you, I missed you back at Times Square," and then he made a little "shooting a gun" motion with his hand. "But seriously, thanks for coming by," he walked over to two of his goonies and put his arms around their shoulders, "My boys here just got out of school so I wanted to throw them a party, and it just wouldn't be a party without you two." Then the little bitch walked back to a table that had a bottle of something on it, sat down, poured a glass, put his feet on the table, leaned back and said, "Well? What're you waiting for? KILL `EM!"

And that's when they all jumped on us.

We were able to hold them off for a few seconds, but with that many of them it really was inevitable. I mean, we didn't even really have a range advantage when they were coming at us with baseball bats, pool cues and machetes.

Dave was handling himself pretty well at first, but all his moves where defensive. He couldn't get any counterattacks in. I was able to slash a few of them, but I only put one of them down before someone rushed in and tackled me from the side and I kinda lost track of Dave after that. I dropped one of my swords, but I was able to use the other one to stab the guy who tackkled me and push myself out from under him at the same time.

That was when I got kicked in the head. I rolled with it and it STILL fucking hurt like hell. But I was back on my feet and I started pulling knives from my belt and whipping them into people. I got a couple guys in the neck and chest, even got one guy right between the eyes, but most of them weren't fatal. A few of them weren't even slowed down by them.

But I had some room now and was able to take more evasive maneuvers. One of the fuckers came at me with my own sword. I side-stepped his swipe and slashed his stomach open. Almost all the way to the spine. It felt really good.

Fat fuck took up a position behind the bar throwing bottles at us. That made things a little more difficult, but it wasn't something we couldn't handle. My favorite part of the night was when I heard Chris yell, "Oh COME ON! There's like, a DOZEN of you!"And for a minute there, I was pretty sure we had this in the bag.

That's when they flipped a pool table onto me.

Nobody immediately jumped on me, so I was able to see that Rainbow Bright had grabbed Dave and, I think, three guys were pounding on him. I was almost out from under it when Chris stepped in front of me and put a gun in my face.

I was absolutely sure that I was about to die and then "BANG!" he yells.

I swear to god my heart stopped for a second. And then he does it again, " BANG! Bang bang bang bang fucking bang!" and then he crouches down in front of me and says, "That was just to make sure you know I could've. But no, that'd be too easy wouldn't it?" and he started pushing the gun into my temple. "No. I don't want you to die thinking, 'Oh, if only I could move! If only I was armed!' uh-uh. You're going to die completely and utterly defeated, with no hope left, you little bitch." and then he stood up and walked away, "Get that off her," he says, "And give her back her swords."

I really couldn't believe he was doing this. But there he was, standing on the other side of the room from me with a katana in his hand and someone kicked my swords over to me.

Everyone that was still able to stand had moved against the walls, the guy holding onto Dave kept a hold on him but they'd stopped beating him, Fat Fuck pulled out a bottle of jack and poured himself a glass, and I picked up my swords and faced down the last, suicidally over confident, D'Amico.

Only it turns out he wasn't really that over confident.

I don't know who he found to teach him, but he honestly wasn't that bad. And if I'd just taken him seriously from the beginning, things might have turned out differently, but no. I started by toying with him.

It wasn't even five seconds into the fight before I realized that I might have underestimated him a little, and another five seconds later he had me on the defensive. Once I realized he was actually a threat, I was able to treat him like one and things started to turn in my favor, but he was still on the offensive and he managed to push me back and forced me to block and put me into a blade lock.

He kept pushing me back and my footing was all wrong and I had no leverage so I tried to slide my foot out to really brace myself so I could push back and then...

My fucking leg gave out on me.

When it was just my own weight on my leg, I'd been able to catch myself with barely a hitch, but with him pushing on me I went straight to the floor and got a boot to the head again. "HA!" he yelled as he stood over me, "Ya see that? I'm not some push over anymore!" And he raised his sword up and says, "And you're about to die."

I'll only admit it here, but started to close my eyes and look away when suddenly there were people yelling and I heard Chris grunt and looked up to see Dave had gotten free and body checked him to the floor.

Dave stood over him, doing that awesome, "I'm beat the fuck up but does it look like it's stopping me?" thing only he can pull off since he can't feel most of it and says, "Neither am I!" and Chris slashes at him as he gets back up and Dave blocks it with his baton and swings at him with his other. Chris ducks under it and tried to punch Dave in the face but he's to far away and Dave avoids it easily and comes at him again. Chris jumps back and swipes at him and Dave raises a baton to stop it, but it slices through it, but it was deflected enough to not hit him. Chris tries to take another swing at him, but I was back on my feet and ran in and gave him a double boot kick to the chest.

He hit the floor hard and his sword slid across the floor. We moved in for the kill and he back pedaled like mad and yelled, "Mother!"

At the time I thought it was funny, and pathetic, that he was crying for his mommy, but thinking back on it didn't have the sort of high pitched, shrill, panic you'd expect it to have. He was yelling an order.

So, this fucking amazon comes out of this back room, and some guy tries to run past her but she just shoved him back inside and then shut the door. She says, "Can't you take care of anything yourself?" and pulls out a gun, points it right at me and opens fire.

Fucking EVERYBODY dove for cover.

She stayed focused on me and when I tried to throw a knife at her, she hit me three times in the chest. Without a doubt it was worse than getting the table flipped onto me... might have been worse than getting shot out of that window( Not sure. Falling twelve feet flat onto your back fucking hurts.), but it knocked the wind out of me completely. She walked up and pointed the gun straight at my head and just before she pulled the trigger Dave hit her in the back with a bar stool. She stumbled forward and the bullet took a chunk out of the floor about a foot from my head but she didn't go down. Hell, she managed to grab another bar stool, turn and hurl it back at Dave.

He dodged it and I kicked her in the back of the knee. She didn't go down much, but it was enough for me to boot her in the face. She rolled on to her back and emptied her gun at me but missed every shot. Dave threw another bar stool at her, but she put her arm up just kinda brushed it off. She was a tough bitch, I'll give her that, but thanks to Dave's chair attack I was able to get my sword, flip back, and stab her through the throat.

Thankfully, everyone else seemed to take the opportunity to leave. Not sure why, but I'm glad they did. After all that I don't know if I had enough in me to finish the rest of them. I mean I was limping as it was.

I managed to find all my knives before we heard the first police sirens. The song they'd just put on when we burst in was just wrapping up so the whole thing couldn't have taken much more than three minutes so I guess their response time was actually pretty good. Funny how things can seem to go on forever but it's really only a few seconds.

On our way back to the safe house Dave asked how Chris had managed to get the better of me. I told him and I would have been fine but my leg gave out on me. He stopped and looked at me and said, "You're leg? You mean like, THAT leg?" he asked pointing at the one that'd been giving me trouble. I knew exactly what he was about to say, but before I could explain anything he he flipped out on me. "You mean you've been going out like this and your leg is still hurting? How could you do that? Are you _trying _to get yourself killed?" I insisted it was nothing, that my leg hasn't given me any problems in months. And it doesn't hurt. It just... pinches a little. Occasionally. It's not worth mentioning. Really.

Dave finally just told me not to hide stuff like that since he couldn't stand to see me get hurt again.

When we finally got back to the safe house Dave pulled off his mask and sat on the couch as soon as we were through the door, and he just sat there staring at his batons. One had huge chunks taken out of it and the other was sliced completely in half.

He looked at me and I just shrugged and told him he needed an upgrade anyway.

I went into the bathroom to check on my own injuries. I had some scratches on my face from shrapnel from broken bottles but otherwise I got away with just some bruises. Some pretty wicked ones on my chest, but still just bruises.

Though, when I pulled my t-shirt back down I noticed I was kind of... uhm... poking through. I smoothed it down and looked at myself from the side and I definitely had something going there. I wasn't really thinking, I was...too fascinated. I don't know what made me do it, but I called Dave over while I was looking at myself in the mirror and asked, "Do you think I should start wearing a bra?"

It wasn't until I saw Dave's face just turn completely mortified that I realized that I had just asked him to look at my barely there boobs. My face turned completely and utterly red. I had never been so embarrassed in my life.

Dave stammered out, "I'm just gonna change in the other room," while I pulled my suit top back on and said "You do that."

I couldn't believe that'd just happened. I mean, I've been wanting him to look at me for months, and then, I just fucking ask him to look at me without even thinking about it, and the first thing I do is freak out and put my jacket back on. And Dave looked just as freaked out as I did.

Ugh that is not how I wanted it to go. I want him to WANT to look at me. I don't want him to be fucking horrified at the idea. When we'd gotten there I was actually hoping Dave would want to crash there so we could spend the night together, but after that even _I_ was too embarrassed to spend the night with him.

I couldn't even face him to get my change of clothes so I pulled some old sweat pants on over my suit, and wore the top like a normal jacket to go home.

This is not how I wanted to start the summer.


	76. Chapter 76

**_Mako's Message:_** _Yeah, so. No Bio. Sorry. I just...need something better than what I have up. I want to make sure they're worth reading and not just a toss out._

_I don't really have much of anything to say about this chapter, it just deals with a bit of the fallout from the last one. Enjoy.  
_

* * *

So...

I haven't talked to Dave in a couple days. I haven't called him, he hasn't called me. Which of course means we haven't gone out either. I guess he's still trying to shake off the embarrassment from the, "Hey Dave, look at my boobs" incident too.

I'm...okay with that though. I'm still sore and even my usual workout has been painful. I wouldn't want to have to fight anybody in this condition.

I need to call him today though. Because, seriously, we sucked fucking BALLS that night. There were a dozen of those guys, (maybe a couple more, but Chris said a dozen too so we'll just stick with that) which comes out to six each. SIX. That should be nothing. We should be able to eat six guys for breakfast. We should be able to face six guys and go, "That's all you got?" I mean seriously! What kind of superhero can't take out six goons? Fucking hell. We're really going to have to step up our training.

Ugh.

Maybe since we don't have school now we can get a morning work out in, before Katie and or work kidnaps him, and he'll keep up with it when school starts. At least I'll be able to spend more time with him. Yeah, Katie lightened up but it's still hard to see him when we're not "working".

Anyway, I thought about asking Marcus about the bra thing, but I remembered the whole period debacle so I decide to just skip it and ask Angela.

That could have gone better.

I called her and she said I could come over and she'd take my measurements if I wanted. So I went over and she looked at me and said, "No offense, but I'm gonna go ahead and say you have no need for a bra, but if you want I can still measure you."

I know it sounds stupid, but I'd come over there to get measured, and I'm tired of being flat and I just wanted some, solid, NUMERICAL proof that I had something worth looking at.

And then she said, "Alright, take it off then."

Did not see that coming.

I refused of course. But she insisted that if I wanted a proper measurement I'd need to take my shirt off.

I really didn't want to considering the bruises on my chest hadn't faded yet and I hadn't thought to cover them up. But she got kind of insistent. The more I refused the more determined she was to get me out of my shirt. When it got to the point that she actually tried to _take_ my shirt off me and I flipped her onto her bed(which she bounced off and fell onto the other side of.) she wanted to know what I was hiding. Her exact words, I believe, were, "Okay, seriously, what are you hiding? It's just us girls and you of all people can't be THIS shy."

For some reason, that did it. I guess I just didn't want her to think I _was_ hiding anything, so I pulled my shirt off.

She just kind of stared at me for a second and said, "Ya know, one of these day's your going to have to tell me how you keep getting these."

I reminded her that I practice martial arts, but she just snorted an said, "I'd like to see the school that let's their students get that rough with each other,"

Anyway, she pulled a tape measure out of one of her drawers and told me to hold my arms up. She was done in like, five seconds. I guessed that she'd done this before and she just sort of giggled said, "Yeah" quickly wrapped the tape around her own chest and said, "I'd throw myself a little party every time I went up a cup size."

And for some reason that just sent us both into a fit of giggles. I am ashamed of myself.

So when we pulled ourselves together I asked her what my size was, and she said I'm a triple-A. Which basically means I'm still flat and don't need a bra( "Unless you want to if you're worried about people seeing your nipples through your shirt or something.")

Yay.

I was actually hoping that I had something worth noticing, but I'm not even an A-cup. I didn't even know that was _possible_ but apparently it is. I guess that's kind of stupid, I mean, boobs just don't appear out of thin air. And how could I think that it'd be that easy to get Dave's attention? He doesn't even _want_ to look at me.

Why can't he just look at me the way I look at him? Does he really see me as a little girl, after everything we've been through?

I know I was embarrassed the other night. But I just caught myself by surprise. I wasn't ready. I'm going to have to make him see that I'm not just a 12-year-old girl. I'll make him want to look at me. I'll find a way to make myself all he thinks about. And when he does look at me, I'll be ready and waiting.


	77. Chapter 77

**_Mako's Message: _**_...writing a story is like making chili. Of course you have to have the right ingredients, but it's just as important, if not more so, to let it simmer for a good long while. It let's ideas refine themselves, allowing you to see problems and come up with solutions or disregard them completely, as well as allowing you to come up with new and better ideas. _

_However, this can also result in you forgetting idea's you were sure were absolutely brilliant when you came up with them six months ago. Which is one of the reasons on my way home from the library I'm going to pick up some post it notes, write ideas on them, and then stick them on my wall so I can reorder and amend them as necessary.  
_

_For example, writing this chapter inspired a great Bonus Chapter for later, and I came up with one idea the other day, that instantly spawned about five other ones and made another idea I had for later work so much better. I also I had an idea about three girls from Dave and Mindy's school being a costumed criminal trio...but I totally forgot what exactly I wanted to do with it and and why I thought it was so awesome in the first place. _

_So, there you go. A little insight into writing from the mind of Makokam._

_Sting's bio is after the chapter._

* * *

You ever get that feeling that things are going so well that something has to be about to blow up? That's how I feel.

I finally got around to calling Dave to talk about our training...and other things. He apologized for not calling me and for freaking out. He said he didn't mean to make me feel all self conscious and everything. It was sweet of him, but unnecessary. I think it might have been worse if it didn't bother him at all. I told him about how off our game we were the night at the bar and he agreed. Even said he had that morning free and I could come over if I wanted. So of course I did.

Had a quick talk with his dad. He was on his way to work, but he stopped to say "hi" to me and see how I was doing. He also said he was glad that Dave and I had ended up friends. He liked the way Dave was improving himself; he was working out, he'd gotten a job, his grades had even started improving. He said it'd started before he got with Katie, but after he met me things really took off for him. So, he said, "Whatever kind of ass-kicking your giving him, keep it up. And don't be a stranger. You're welcome here any time."

When I saw him, I told him about his dad's invitation and that I might just start stopping by in the middle of the night. Dave just smirked and said, "The only time we're not already together in the middle of the night is when you're supposed to be asleep."

So I told him I'd come over in the morning then. And that's when I started telling him my plans for our morning workouts, and how I wanted him to get into the habit of doing so he'd keep it up once school started. We sat down and made this long list of everything I wanted us to do, and a schedule for what we'd do on what days. When we'd finished, Dave looked over it and sort of sighed and ran his fingers through his hair(I wish he'd push his hair back like that more often), and said, "This is going to take a lot of time."

When I shrugged and said, "It's summer. Do you have anything better to do?"

He said, "No, it's not that. Katie's not going to to be happy about this."

I walked over to him, leaned in close so that our faces were almost touching, grabbed his shirt and said, "Then you tell her that Hit Girl said you need to get your pansy ass into shape, and that if she has a problem with that, that she'll pay her a visit to explain things to her."

For a second there, he actually looked like he was afraid, but then he smirked and said, "Well, when you put it that way, it's kind of hard to refuse."

Since then I've been jogging to his house to pick him up in the morning for a run, then heading to either my house or his house, depending on what we're doing the rest of the day. We usually go to my house since we have the weight room and it forces Dave to jog back to his house. But if we don't have any plans for the day we'll usually end up hanging out at his place until later. I even got to fall asleep watching a movie with him.

I woke up while he was still asleep but I just squeezed in closer to him. I even put his arm around me. That's not bad is it? I mean, it's not like a groped him, even though I thought about it. See? It's not like I gave into temptation.

Katie only argued with him about it once. Kind of a shame. I'd have liked an excuse to sneak into her room and give her a piece of my mind.

And there hasn't been anything major on the crime front. We did have a run in with Chris's stooges though. They were hijacking a Hostess' truck. There were only four of them and they didn't put up much of a fight. Marcus mentioned that similar robberies had happened recently. Some bigger than others, but they all seemed relatively petty. And by that I mean they just seem to be taking stuff because they want it for themselves. Almost crimes of whim since in some cases they didn't even bring bags to carry the loot off in, like they were just walking down the street and said, "Hey, let's rob this place." It's giving the cops a hell of a time.

Let's see...Jessi found herself a new boyfriend. I haven't met him, but Angela says he's, "soooooooo cute. You'll need a drool cup when you see him," that she, "had a hard time NOT grabbing his ass," how she's, "so jealous of her for snagging a piece of man-candy like him," and that she hopes she can find someone as "Yummy" as him when she's allowed to start dating and then she burst into a fit of giggles.

I got caught up in it again. I think it's contagious.

OH! Jessi's birthday is coming up next week. She doesn't have anything planned, but Angela insists we go out and do something. No idea what though. Maybe a movie or something.

So, with everything going so well, is it any wonder I can't help feeling like it's all going to go to hell at any moment? Or maybe I'm just paranoid...

* * *

**Sting-**  
_Comics and super heroes were never a draw to him, instead preferring historical fiction. However, after seeing the violence that was part of this amateur superhero movement, he realized that, as an anesthesiologist, he had skills he could put to use to stop criminals without hurting them. He put together a costume for himself that's most prominent feature is a white hooded sweatshirt with a red wasp stenciled on the front. He purchased several needles designed for throwing and coated them with a variety of sedatives and anesthetics designed to numb the target and bring them down with minimum force. His equipment also includes some hypodermic needles for injections of large doses should it prove necessary, as well as a baton to keep his opponent at bay while the sedatives take affect. He'll soon be adding a bulletproof vest, courtesy of Colonel Stars._


	78. Chapter 78

**_Mako's Message:_**_ So, been awhile huh? Eh. not really. But the delay was due to me wanting to make sure I got the Halloween Bonus finished before starting this one._

_And I had fun with this chapter It really flowed well, and I liked where it was going. But, if Mindy seems a little hypocritical... I guess I didn't do well with that._

Anyway, enjoy, and if you haven't read Holiday Bonus yet, go do so. Now!  


* * *

Okay, so... yeah. Jessi's boyfriend is hot. There, I said it.

But he's also a complete DICK.

He's also like, 19 or something.

We, Me, Angela, Jessi, and her boyfriend, went out to a movie for her birthday. After the movie, we spent a couple hours in the theater arcade. It's not much of an arcade, but it kept us entertained for a couple hours so I guess it works. And we ate dinner from the concession stand, sure it cost way more than going to McDonalds like Jessi suggested, but she didn't want to leave the arcade anyway. And yeah, it did cost like, nine dollars for a basket of chicken fingers and fries, but they give you six fingers and a mountain of fries so it's actually worth it. Unlike the five dollar medium popcorn, and especially not the four dollar icees. You can get a bigger size for half that at a gas station. Fucking robbing their customers. Shame I can't put a face to those prices.

But anyway, she wanted to eat but she couldn't afford the concession prices, which is why she suggested McDonalds. Now I don't like just spending it on everyday stuff, but I DO have all that money, so I paid for her food. And I got her ice cream afterward too. I mean, it was her birthday, and I had that big thing, and Angela had that whole deal so I figured why not? And it's not like her boyfriend offered. Fucking gropey prick.

I'm not even exaggerating. He had his hands on her all the time. And if he didn't he wasn't fucking paying attention to her. He'd come up behind her and wrap his arms around her and run his hands across her stomach or just under her shirt, whispering in her ear and kissing her neck. I swear he even grabbed both her tits for a second once. She didn't even step on his foot, just sort half shrieked half giggled and ducked away. _I_ would have kicked him in the balls if he'd tried that. At least. Okay, Dave could get away with doing most of that to me, but even he'd get it if he started groping me in public. Take me somewhere private first if that's how you want to play, ya know?

So he took her home, and when they were walking through the parking lot, once they got away from the building, he slid his hand down her back and onto her ass.

I don't even know how she put's up with it since she's not fucking him. At least, I don't think she is... nah. I'm pretty sure she'd have told Angela at least if she'd gotten laid, and I don't think Angela would keep something like that from me.

But if she was, I could kind of understand her letting him touch her like that. But I'm not even sure she _liked_ him doing that so yeah, he's a gropey motherfucker that needs a shot in the nuts.

Angela and I took a bus home. I have no idea why she wanted to do that, but she did. I could have called Marcus or Dave for a ride, but I just didn't think it'd be a good idea to let Angela ride the bus by herself. But I fucking hate buses so I got off with her even though it was a lot further than I'd normally like to walk.

I didn't really know how to get home from there either. Just a vague sense of which direction to go, but I said "fuck it, It's not like I'm gonna get lost or anything". Before I recognized any of the streets near my house, though, I came to a street that crosses Dave's street so I decided to drop in.

There was a light on in the house and the car was in the garage so I knew somebody had to be home so I climbed in through his window to surprise him. Yeah, I could have just knocked on the front door like any other girl, but this was more fun.

So I lay on his bed, reading comics until he came home. He seemed kinda surprised to see me at first, but then he just dumped his stuff on the floor and sat down at his computer and said, "I thought today was an off day."

I rolled onto my side and just looked at him and said, "What? I can't just come over?"

Dave held up his hands and said, "Oh, no, you totally can. You just usually...don't."

I curled up on his bed looking at him, and thinking about what it'd be like to go out to a movie with hm, have his arm around me, giving me kisses, "Maybe I should."

He just sort of looked at me and smiled and said, "So what's up? What do you want to do tonight?"

"I want you to lay here and kiss me."

It's seems so easy to say, doesn't it? But it just caught in my throat and I could not get it out.

So I settled for. "Tell me about your day."

He said, "Seriously?" and when I nodded, he took this deep breath and started telling me about how he's spent the whole day training these two new guys with Riley. Since it was summer, their boss wanted to make sure he had at least two people on every shift, which meant that they were going to have to double their employment. And since Dave and Riley are the only two reliable people at their store they've been the one's training everyone, and since he want's two _competent_ people on during each shift, that means that they'll end up with four people behind the counter when they're working the same shift since they're both training people, and Dave assures me that having four people behind that counter when only two of them know what they're doing is no picnic.

Imagining all the chaos that must go on when they're busy made me laugh, and Dave got all offended saying it wasn't funny, but he was laughing too so he can bite me.

So then he asked me about Jessi's birthday and I told him about Handsy McGropefest and he said he sounded like a douche.

I agreed.

Then Dave said he didn't know why she was dating a guy so much older, and wondered why her parents where letting her.

I didn't say anything to that.

We talked about other other stuff, like if Marty was going to wake up soon, or how Todd wasn't really talking to anyone, and about Justice Forever and how Colonel Stars hadn't been able to find a date we were all available for for our next meeting and how he was ready to just set a date and tell everybody they can show up or shut up.

Have I mentioned I like him?

Katie called at one point, and while he was on the phone I said, "Oh Da~ve."

He gave me this "what the fuck are you doing?" look as he said, "What? Of course that wasn't Mindy. I'm watching TV. One sec I'll turn it down." And he backhanded me across the arm so I cried out "OH Dave! Not so rough!"

He held his pillow over my face while he finished his conversation. He added his blanket when I couldn't stop laughing.

When he hung up the phone he pointed at me and said, "I'm gonna get you for that."

I told him he was welcome to try.

And then I yawned, stretched out on his bed, pulled his pillow under my head, and said, "Can I spend the night?"

He said, "Sure, if you don't mind sleeping on the couch."

I asked him, "Can't I sleep here with you?"

He just said, "No." Then after a moment said, "I can take the couch though, if you really want the bed."

I sighed and got up and said, "Never mind. I'll just go home."

After spending a few hours curling up, and stretching out, and just doing my damnedest to look appealing on his bed, and then flat out saying I wanted to spend the night in bed with him, if he wasn't going to take my bait then it was time to just call it a night and try again some other time.

At least it gave me more fantasy fodder.


	79. Chapter 79

**_Mako's Message:_** _... so. Dave's Dad is named James... Fuck you Millar! Stop making me wrong! damnit... Fuck. Guess I'll jut be wrong then. No real point to going back and trying retcon his name._

_Did love this line though, "Boss, check it out: Kick-Ass just tweeted that he beat the shit out of you** last time** and he's looking forward to doing it **again**." And(what I'm guessing is) the cover art for the next issue? Oh fuck yes! THAT is what I'm talking about! And gotta love the return of "Hit Girl's Diary"_

_Comic seems to really be moving now. Seems like this issue covered like...two days. But I gotta admit, I can't see The Motherfucker and his...what is it? "Toxic Mega_ Cunts"? _Are gonna last long. I think they're gonna burn out pretty quick. Especially after mowing down ten cops(Have those guys never heard of cover fire?). And that there only seems to be like...six of them, counting Mother Russia and The Motherfucker. ...heh. Anybody else see that? Can't imagine Millar didn't do that on purpose._

_Anyway, more proof that Millar and I are providing an ENTIRELY different product._

_Speaking of which, I've rambled way too long. On with the show!_

* * *

Okay, so, this all started with me finally calling Dillon

I admit it, I forgot about him. Probably would have forgotten about him all summer of I hadn't gone looking in my pack for a pen.

I spent a good five minutes looking at that scrap of paper wondering if I should call him. I didn't have any interest in him, really. I did say I'd call him though. Don't know why. And if I didn't I'd look like a bitch.

So, I called him.

And it was awkward.

I had nothing to talk to him about. I don't know him. What could I say to him? He had the same problem, I think, or maybe he was just shy, but at least he was interested in me. He asked me what I'd been doing with my summer.

Kicking ass as a costumed hero and trying to figure out how to seduce my best friend.

"Nothing much, ya know, the usual. How about you?"

So, he started telling me about how he was in photography camp, and how they went on these trips to the zoo, or parks, or conservatories which was a lot of fun, but that there were a couple of dicks (my word not his, but I think he wanted to use it) who where always riding his ass (again, I'm paraphrasing.)

And then he asked me what I was doing today.

And I mentioned that Angela and her family were going to the arts festival in central park and that Jessi and I had been invited to go along.

And turned out he was going there today too.

So he asked if we could meet up.

And I didn't know what to tell him. He just seemed so nice, and excited, and I'd called him and... I swear to god that when I tried to say no it felt like I was going to kick a puppy. I will put a meat cleaver through a drug dealers head with no problem. I will empty a gun into a mafioso without blinking. I will cut down their whores just to make a clean sweep of it.

But I won't kick a puppy.

So I told him, "I'll keep an eye out for you." And I meant it. Didn't mean I wasn't going to pretend I didn't see him and walk in opposite direction though.

Angela noticed I kept looking around and kept asking what I was looking for. I kept telling her nothing, but then Dillon spotted me first and came running over.

Angela immediately jumped to the wrong conclusion, saying, "Oh, so THIS is who you were looking for." and getting all "wink wink nudge nudge" on me.

Dillon seemed happy to hear that I was looking for him.

Angela and Jessi thought it was cute how excited he was.

Dillon walked beside me the entire time and they couldn't stop giggling about it.

I tried not to punch them in the face for it.

I got used to him being there, though. Eventually. I even bought him a funnel cake when we stopped at the food stands.

All in all though, it was fun. We saw lot's of cool paintings, prints, sketches, photos, and sculptures. There was great music, dancers, and performance art too. There was so much stuff I wanted to buy. Especially this awesome picture of me and Dave, well, Hit Girl and Kick-Ass, on a rooftop. I probably spent too much time talking to the artist though, but I really liked he.r work and it was fun. I even picked up some tips for my little boredom induced sketches.

And Dillon spent a a lot of time with one of photographers too, and Jessi had a hard time being pulled away from this tent full of artistic nudes (I wonder if I could talk Dave into posing for some photos...), but I think Angela was only really interested in the food. Took her almost ten minutes to decide which stands she wanted to get lunch from, and for once she actually ate more than me.

After we'd seen everything we all went and found some open grass and just laid out and started talking about everything. Angela really liked one of the dances we saw and started trying to do it herself. Jessi told her she was doing it wrong and got up to do it herself. Neither were doing it right. I sat there and laughed at them and told them they looked like a couple of fucking tools.

So Angela said, "Well then get up and show how it's done, bitch!"

Jessi laughed and said, "Yeah, come on! Let's see what the amazing Mindy can do!"

I failed at doing the dance a little less than they did.

But we had a fucking ball anyway.

Dillon was loving it, the little fucker. Must have taken about a hundred photos of us dancing alone. Not that he hadn't been taking pictures the entire time, but he was snapping them like his heart was going to stop if he did.

Angela and Jessi didn't mind though. They were loving it. Fucking camera whores. But at least it kept his lens off me for most of it.

We left not long after that, and he said he'd make sure we all got copies.

And that's when it happened.

Angela put an arm around me as we walked back to her parents car and said, "I gotta say Mindy, I'm jealous. Two years younger than me and you still got a boyfriend before me."

I couldn't even form a response. I think she made my brain crash. I finally managed to get out a "He's not my fucking boyfriend."

And Jessi said, "Aww, but you're so good together."

Angela added, "And he's so cute he's almost pretty."

And then Jessi said, "And sweet. I wish I could find a guy like that."

I told her, "You can fucking have him if you like him so much."

Angela sighed and leaned on me with one hand on her forehead and one on her heart, sighed all dramatic like and said, "Would if I could, but alas, his eyes and heart belong only to you."

Yes. Angela is nuts.

But obviously this is something I'm going to have to nip in the bud.


	80. Chapter 80

_**Mako's Messsage: **Sorry it took so long to get this to you. I've been feeling under the weather lately and it's been all I can do just to stay awake after work, and I haven't even been managing that most nights.__ This is also why I don't have the list of Bonus Chapter Qualifiers for you, so sorry for the delay on that as well. (This would be a good opportunity to back review if you want it.)  
_

_In the meantime, go read Deceit for Desire. Yes it's a Red Mist fic, but it's GOOD. So suck it up and read it._

_Oh, and look at that, it's an action scene. Don't see many of those in this story._

* * *

Oh my god today was so awesome I haven't even taken off my costume yet.

We were out on a patrol, well, not really patrolling, hunting. We'd gotten a tip about a drug deal going down, but only a vague idea of where. And we finally came across these three cars and two SUVs in an alley and all the doors were open. Then we saw the body laying behind one of the cars.

Now, we'd learned from that cluster fuck at the bar, so when we heard someone coming out of the building the cars were parked behind, we ducked into a doorway to see what we were up against. Two of that motherfucker's cunts came out, and it was obvious they were his. They don't have a uniform or anything, but they do have a style, if you can call it that. It's this weird mix of half-assed and trying-too-hard.

So these two guys came out and started carrying the body into the building. But with four cars there were still a lot of bodies unaccounted for, and we waited a little longer to see if anyone else was going to come out when Dave tapped me on the shoulder and pointed towards a dumpster a couple buildings down.

Biker Knight was doing the same thing we were.

Dave pulled a pen-light out of his belt pouch and flashed it at him.

It's kind of hard to tell where exactly that guy is looking with that helmet of his, but he turned his head to look straight at us and signaled with that, two fingers to the eyes and then pointing them at us to let us know he saw us.

Then maybe six guys came out carrying what looked like coke and started loading it into one of the SUVs, when they went back in I signaled that we should get closer after the next load. He seemed hesitant to take orders from me, but he nodded and Dave and I ran up to the cars after the cunts had come and gone again and he hid behind one of the SUVs. I signaled that we should take them after they dropped off the next load and he nodded.

They came back out, and when they headed back in we pounced.

Biker Knight marched up with the blunted short swords and nailed three of them in the neck in rapid succession, I leapt onto the hood of a car then onto one of them, with one hand on his face and knocking him over and smashing his head into the ground at the same time, then I leapt from him onto another guy, put my feet on his hips, grabbed him by the shirt and flipped him into the ground, driving my knees into his diaphragm as I did so. Dave wasn't as graceful or efficient, but it was effective; he grabbed a guy, threw him face first into a brick wall then grabbed him by the hair, turned him around, and smashed his face in with his knee.

We could hear more people running for the door, and Dave pressed his back against the wall next to the door, while Biker Knight and I hid behind the cars again, and when they came running out we jumped them. It was about as easy as the first batch, but it took a little longer since they were expecting us.

I was kinda hoping Dave didn't have enough of those zip-cuffs he carries so I could kill a few of them, give the police less work and shit, but Biker Knight carried them too so they all got to live.

It was when we were finishing up with them and about to put the call in to the police, that one more showed up.

He was a big guy, but not _that_ big, maybe six-two. His head was shaved, he had a bunch of piercings in his ears and his nose, these weird crescent tattoos on his neck, a necklace that I guess was shark teeth, and was wearing this dark blue or black leather jacket and pants.

He stood in the door for a second and looked at everything with this look of total outrage then yelled, "Oy! Can't a guy take a piss without everything turning to shit!"

Then he pointed at us, me specifically, said, "Right, you're done playing with the guppies," then he lifted this ungodly fucking thing up(I guess it'd been leaning against the wall inside the door) that looked like the bastard spawn of a claymore and a hacksaw or something, and said, "Now your swimmin' with The Great White."

I separated my staff and started to close in on him, but Biker Knight put his sword out to stop me and shook his head, then he stepped up, raised both his swords and flicked the one closest to "the great white" in the way you do to say, "come get me."

So the great white came at him with a diagonal slash, and Biker Knight just side stepped it, but whitey spun and the sword thing came around even faster and Biker Knight had to roll out of the way. He came to his feet and whitey took another swing at him, but he rolled forward under it and came up close enough to whitey that he had to step back.

Biker knight struck at him, but whitey pulled that sword up in time to block his strikes, then spun, jammed his sword into the ground and side kicked Biker Knight. He stumbled back and then whitey swung and hit him right in the gut, and there was this loud scraping of metal on metal as he was thrown back against one of the cars. He didn't move at first, just stayed slumped against the car, then when whitey tried to get him with an overhead strike, he spun out of the way, closed the gap, and hit him twice in the arm. I could the bone break on each hit.

Whitey didn't scream, it was more of a roar, but he dropped the big fucking sword and used his good hand to pull a knife that was almost as long as Biker Knights short sword and had a serrated edge. He came at Biker Knight with a flurry of strikes but just missed every one. Then he deflected one of whitey's strikes with one of his swords and nailed him right in the head with the other. Whitey _almost_ went down, but he was still on his feet, if a little glassy. So Biker Knight finished it with a boot to the face.

So we cuffed him and dragged him over to the other's. Then Biker Knight pulled an SD card out of this pouch on his belt, crouched down, and slipped it into one of the pockets on whiteys jacket.

We asked him what it was for but he didn't answer, just tapped his visor right between his eyes. Then he stood up and held out his hand. We both shook it then he turned and headed off down the alley. It wasn't until he as almost gone that I remembered to invite him to a Justice Forever meeting(we _finally_ have a new meeting date scheduled.) I ran after him and caught up just before he climbed through this hole in a fence, but when I told him about it he just shook his head and started through the hole again.

The he stopped, thumped his fist over his heart, and pressed it gently against mine, then he slipped through the fence and ran off.

Fucking awesome.


	81. Chapter 81

_**Mako's Message: **Okay, so, it's been over a week and I know that's not like me, and this is a really short chapter_. _And for that I am sorry. But hey! Lookie! Double update! That makes up for it right?_

Bonus qualifiers after the story.

* * *

Dillion put up, like, fifty pictures of me on Facebook. FIFTY! I'm not even joking. Angela and Jessi were in some of them, and there were a bunch that were of Angela, Jessi, or both of them, but there were fifty fucking picture of ME. Tagged and everything! Fifty Pictures of Mindy MacCready!

I don't even HAVE Facebook!

But it's all taken care of now. I was on his doorstep about half an hour after Angela texted me about the pictures.

As pissed as I was about it, I've got to admit I kinda enjoyed going over there. He answered the door himself when I knocked, and as soon as he saw me his face lit up. The a second later it fell off.

It's that dawning moment of comprehension that I live for.

He backed up in a panic and started to stammer something but before he could get it out I'd grabbed his arm, twisted it behind his back and slammed him into a wall. I let him squirm for a second before I told him to take all the pictures of me down.

He didn't even TRY to argue it though. He was agreeing before I even finished talking. It was disappointing really. I haven't had a chance to put the screws to someone in awhile and I was kinda looking forward to this. So I marched him to his computer and stood over him cracking my knuckles as he pulled all the pictures off his page.

It wasn't very satisfying though. He didn't put up any resistance at all. I probably could have just asked him and he would have taken them down.

So once they were all down and he deleted them from his computer and camera I left, and as I left I stopped at the door and said, "In case I still need to say it, don't get any idea's about me being your girlfriend."

Don't get me wrong, he's not a bad guy, even if he is weak willed, but I can't expect to win Dave if he sees me with another guy.

* * *

__**_Bonus Qualifiers:_** _If your name is on this list, please send me your e-mail address*_ _via PM in the format of (address) (website) . com_

_**2Wingo  
Morbid Crow  
Suto Chan**_

_**Hailey C. Black**_

_**RobGill  
TorontoBatFan**_

_**DangerousBeauty84**_

_**Proponent of EVO**_

_**100 MonkeysMan**_

_**Dogbertcarrol**_

**StygianStyx  
Deadselly**

*unless it's already in your inbox


	82. Chapter 82

So, I've solved a mystery, if a small one, about Dave.

See, there's this alley that we'd pass by on our patrols occasionally. And we'd always pass by it. Never once did he ever go to turn into it. He'd act like he didn't even notice it was there. I didn't think anything of it the first time, or even the second time, but by the third time it'd started to bug me.

Tonight I finally called him on it.

His answer? He didn't even realize he was doing it. Then he just sort of stared at it for a second and said, "This is where it happened," then paused for a second and said, "Well, in the parking lot a few buildings down." And then he just stood there staring down the alley for a minute before finally saying, "Let's go," and started walking down it.

When he reached the parking lot he was talking about, he looked into it, and then suddenly put his arm out to stop me and pushed me back out of sight and then he leaned up against the wall and started shaking. For a second I thought something was wrong with him, then I realized he was laughing.

It took him a second to answer my, "What is so fucking funny?", and when he did, I didn't understand what he the hell he was talking about.

"They're still here."

I was all, "Who the fuck are 'They'"

And he said, "The guy's who stabbed me. And mugged me. Like eight times. They're still hanging out here. I can't fucking believe it."

Then he suddenly grinned this wicked ass grin and pulled his batons out and said, "Oh, this has been a long time coming. I am so going to enjoy this," and started to walk into the parking lot.

I started to watch him go, but then I suddenly had this thought and ran over and caught him by the wrist and dragged him back behind cover. I said, "Let me do it."

He looked at me like he didn't understand what I said, then asked, "What? Why? This is my fight. These are my guys. I should go beat their asses."

So I said, "Yeah, well D'Amico was my nemesis and you killed him, so let me do these guys for you."

He said, "If I hadn't killed him he would have killed you, this isn't the same thing."

I said, "Hey, I'm not complaining here, I'm just saying it'd make us even. You took out my guy, I take out your guy." He hesitated so I pulled out my best puppy eyes and said, "Pleeeeaaaasssssssssssse?"

He smiled and laughed and said, "Alright fine, if you want to that badly go get 'em hot stuff."

And I just completely froze. I couldn't believe he said that, and when I turned and looked at him I guess it showed because he said, "Er, sorry. Didn't mean anything by it. Was that out of line?"

I just looked at him and then turned away and said, "No, it's fine. I just... didn't expect it." and it just made me so fucking angry. He'd said what I'd dreamed of hearing him say for months now, and he didn't even... It was like he was worried I'd be mad at him for it! It was like.. I felt like what I wanted was suddenly RIGHT THERE and then it was gone and I was being _apologized_ to for it even being there in first place like I'd be offended at the thought of it. Stupid fucking.. just...ugh.

But, I took the anger, and I directed it at the two douchebags sitting in the parking lot, eating pizza and drinking beer. I was going to show Dave how much I cared about him. I was going to fucking MURDER these guys who'd hurt him so many times and then nearly killed him. Would Katie do that for him? Fuck no. The little bitch. I was the one who he should be with. What could he possibly have in common with her anyway? We shared the biggest part of our lives with each other. Who else could he possibly say that about?

Fuck.

Anyway.

I started out then stopped to ask him which one was the guy that'd stabbed him. Then walked around into the parking lot and headed straight for them.

They didn't see me coming. Even though they didn't look in my direction, I was radiating so much fucking hate towards them I'm surprised they didn't FEEL me coming.

He felt my fist smash his fucking face in though, that's for damn sure.

The black guy swore, jumped up like he was ready to fuck up whoever just sucker punched his buddy, then realized it was me and tried to run. I said, "Oh no you fucking don't!" and threw one of my knives into his knee. He screamed and face-planted into the pavement.

The other guy stood up, looked at his buddy and then pulled a knife, probably the same one he used to stab Dave. I took one look at it, said, "Pffft, whatever," and stepped towards him he took a shot at stabbing me, but I just twisted out of the way, caught his wrist, and snapped it. Then as he fell to his knees I pulled his arm out straight and broke it between my knee and elbow.

He fell over cradling his arm, rolled over and half tried to stand, half tried to crawl away. He cried, "What the fuck? We didn't DO anything you crazy bitch!"

I kicked him in the back of the head and he sprawled face first into the ground. I straddled his back and hooked my fingers into his nose and pulled him up (the little dick didn't have enough hair to grab him that way), bending him backwards, and said, "You hurt my _PARTNER."_

Then I flicked open my balisong and said "Ready to tell the world, 'bye-bye'?" then put the blade to his throat.

Then Dave told me to stop. I was so close to slitting the bitch's throat wide open and I just couldn't believe he was telling me to stop.

But I did. If I was doing this for him... I couldn't do something he didn't want. Didn't want him to suddenly feel like he had SAVE the piece of shit's life or anything. Didn't want him mad at me.

Then he stepped around and kneeled down in front of him so he could look him in the eye, then he said, "Give him something he could survive. Ya know, if someone helped him," and he tapped his stomach, right where the scar from that day was, "Right there."

I had to admit I kinda liked the idea, so I grinned, said, "Sure thing." grabbed him by his shirt, hauled him to his feet, threw him into the wall, and jammed the knife right into his gut and then twisted it. He made this beautiful croaking sort of sound as he slid down the wall and wrapped both his arms around his stomach.

Dave looked down at him and said, "Hope you can find a good Samaritan," and then turned and walked away. I grinned down at him and then skipped after Dave. Yeah, you didn't misread. I felt so damn good I was actually skipping. I caught up to Dave and put my arm around his as we went down the alley.

He looked down and smiled at me, and as I felt him put a hand on my arm I thought I was going to joygasm. Even Katie showing up couldn't have ruined my mood. Because I knew, I just fucking KNEW now, that nothing was ever going to be able to come between us.


	83. Chapter 83

Angela is pissed at me. Like, seriously pissed. Her actual words were, "I'm so mad I could slap you."

Well, I guess I should say "was pissed" but I'm not entirely sure she isn't still mad at me. Girls can be weird like that. … Not that I'm not a girl of course. I just mean other girls. In general. I'm not like that. No one ever has to wonder if I'm mad at them. Ya know what, never mind.

Anyway, she came over today, and she started screaming at me about two seconds after I opened the door. She didn't push me or hit me or anything, but she definitely looked like she wanted to. She kept clenching her fingers like she wanted to strangle me actually.

I honestly have no memory of backing up, but the next thing I remember after opening the door and her screaming at me was tripping over the couch.

I really didn't know how to respond to it. I mean, my first instinct was to hit her, but she's my friend and I didn't want to hit my friend. At least, not unless she had tried to hit me. Kinda wish she had. That I could handle. Instead she screamed at me at me for awhile about Dillon. Wanting to know what was wrong with me that I roughed him up over some pictures of us at a festival. How she hadn't even gotten her copies of the pictures yet. How Dillon was a sweetie and or a cutie(she alternated) and how he didn't deserve that.

Marcus just stood there looking amused. Bastard.

So when she finally finished she stood there and asked me what I had to say for myself.

I didn't have much. I mean, I just reacted the way I was trained. No photo's. Destroy any that are taken. I didn't even realize he'd taken so many. I thought I'd avoided him taking pictures of me, so when I saw all the pictures I just... reacted.

Maybe Angela was right and I overreacted. I didn't have to fight with him about it at all. I just... couldn't have all those pictures of me out there. What if someone thought there was a resemblance between Mindy Maccready and Hit Girl and compared them?

Couldn't really say that to her though.

So I just stared at her for a second and said, "Uh...I'm sorry?"

She just said, "Tell it to Dillon." and stood there being pissed for a minute then said, "So, I was actually coming over here for another reason before I found out about what you did."

And that's when she said, "I want you to train me."

My reaction? "What."

She said, "You're in great shape, and you're a gymnast and stuff so I want you to train me so I can make the cheer squad this year."

It took me a second to process that. That she wanted me to train her. To be a cheerleader.

I asked her, "You're serious."

She said, "Yes."

"I train really fucking hard to be able to do what I do. Are you sure you want me to train you? If I do it's going to suck for you really hard."

She seemed slightly less sure of herself then, but she still nodded anyway.

I was already getting plenty of sleep since it was summer, and it couldn't hurt to have something else to do during the day, so I said, "Then sure."

She smiled and asked when we could start.

I told her I'd get back to her on that, since I was going to have to figure that out for myself. Can't really have her training with Dave. He's getting combat training, and I'm not really spending much time on acrobatics with him. His strength lies in his ability to take a hit anyway. (Mine is just being untouchable)

She said she had to things to do today anyway, thanked me, and left.

Before she got out the door though, Marcus invited her to a 4th of July barbeque(First I'd heard of it.). She declined saying her family was having one in the evening, but Marcus said his was going to be earlier in the day and it couldn't hurt to go to two.

Angela said she'd think about it.

So then Marcus wanted to know what she was shrieking(his word, but it fits) at me about, so I told him about how I'd twisted Dillon's arm to get him to delete the photos he took.

He wasn't happy about it, but he seemed more resigned than pissed. He sighed and tried to explain to me about using "Minimum required force". For a second I thought he was going to start lecturing me about my actions as Hit Girl, but he just said he understood how important it was for me to not have photos of me floating around, but I should have ASKED him to take them down first, and only resorted to "physical coercion" if he'd refused.

So that was-

Huh. That was weird. Marcus just came in and wanted to know if I'd killed anybody lately.

I told him I'd had to knife a guy the other night, but he was alive the last time I saw him.

Then he asked if I'd stabbed him more than once.

I told him I hadn't and then asked why he was asking since he usually doesn't want to know what I get up to at night.

He just said to forget about it and walked away.

The hell was that about?


	84. Chapter 84

_**Mako's Message:** __This is another short one. Sorry to say the next few will probably be short by necessity as well._ _Why? Because I'd like to finish up summer by Christmas. For personal reasons, mostly, but I think yinz will be happy with me if I pull it off._

_...so yeah, that's it. Enjoy!_

* * *

So, Angela is really serious about this training thing. She called me this morning just as I was heading out for Dave's to ask if we could start today. I hadn't even gotten around to thinking up what we were going to do, but I figured if she was this enthusiastic about it that it'd be a shame to waste it, so I told her I'd come by later and we could get started.

When I met up with Dave and told him about it, he said it was fine if we cut this morning a little short, since the guy Riley was training that morning had called off, so she'd asked him if he could come in a little early(Dave doesn't usually start until afternoon). I wasn't happy about losing some Dave-time, and knowing he'd be with Riley(even if it was work) just made it worse. But once I figure out some sort of schedule I wont have to worry about it happening again so I could deal with it for today.

I just realized I'm going to have almost no time to train on my own.

Well, at least I'll only be training Angela for the summer. Once school starts I'll be able to train on my own. Unfortunately Dave'll be doing most of his training on his own too. I hope he doesn't slack off.

So anyway, after our jog and some time in the weight room I showed him a couple moves to practice on his own then headed over to Angela's.

When I got there she was surprised because she didn't hear Marcus drive up, then asked, "Did you ride your bike over?"

I said, "No I jogged."

She looked suddenly horrified and said, "It's, like, three miles!"

I told her, "I know. It took me about half hour to get here."

She looked more incredulous than horrified when she said, "You're not even winded."

I just shrugged and said, "I was taking it easy."

She stepped aside to let me in, shook her head and said, "Sometimes you scare me Mindy."

I just said, "I get that a lot," and walked in.

We went up to her room to talk about what were going to be doing. I wanted to start with some jogging (she looked kind of panicked when I said that, but I told her we'd just go around her block) then some stretches and probably some strength training since they lift each other up and do pyramids and shit.

While she was changing into her workout clothes, she suddenly picked up the tape measure and asked if I wanted to give it another go. I was going to decline but then at the last second I decided, "what the hell, sure."

I am now, drum roll please... a AA-Cup.

Whoo.

But at least progress is being made.

Anyway, we went outside and we jogged around the block. The idea being to see just what sort of condition she was in. Because I wouldn't let her walk(that would defeat the purpose of this) she only made it around twice. And I'm being lenient in saying she made it around twice. She was practically crying by the end of the second lap and she collapsed in front of her house.

I asked her, "Are you sure you want to do this?"

She gasped out, "Yes." then a minute later pulled herself together enough to ask, "How'd I do?"

I think I summed it up rather nicely in one word, "Pitiful."

I practically had to carry her back into the house for gods sake.

I gave her some water and told her she was going to have to do two laps around the block every day in addition to everything else until I told her otherwise. She asked me if I was serious and I just looked at her with my, "Do I look like I'm joking" face.

I let her finish the water before I dragged her over to a wall so she could work on her split. Nothing else she could do in the state she was in anyway. And I still had to stay there to make sure she didn't flop over.

After that I had her do some crunches and push ups and then I called it a day since I didn't want her too sore to move. Barely move, yes, you can still exercise if you can "barely" move. But it is possible to work yourself so hard you can't even pick yourself up out of bed. It happened to Dad a couple times when he was pushing himself to get to "the next level." He was more careful with me though.

I wonder what he'd think of me training a friend to be a cheerleader...

Anyway.

Marcus won't talk to me about the guy who'd been stabbed repeatedly. Every time I try to bring it up he changes the subject to the barbeque. It's really starting to piss me off. But whatever. If it was important I'm sure he'd tell me.

He catch him talking on the phone though. If I heard right, then the motherfucker's cunts have still been stealing whatever isn't nailed down, that trucks have been getting hijacked(mostly food and electronics shipments), the incidents of rape are spiking, and that there are more of them now than ever.

Obviously I'm going to have to talk to Dave about relaxing this "no killing" thing in their case.


	85. Chapter 85

_**Mako's Message:** If I can keep up this pace I should be good. Anyway, I know I said that chapters were going to be short... and this is in general a short chapter, but it's fairly decent for this story. But I'm not making any promises for later chapters. I just had too much fun writing this one. With that in mind, I'm not entirely sure this is in tone with the rest of the story, so be sure to let me know what you think. _

_Oh, "and and" is not a typo__, and Mindy will get worse. Especially after what Riley says to to her in a later chapter._

_Enjoy!_

* * *

Dave cut his hair!

Like, ALL of it! It's maybe an inch long now! I can't believe he did that! His hair looked so nice long. I always wanted to play with it. I loved when I'd get a chance to run my fingers through it, and ruffle it up, and push it in his eyes, and wrap it around my fingers, and and it's all gone now! I went into complete shock when I saw it. It took me forever to even form a thought coherent enough to speak. And even then all I could get out was,"Why?"

It took Dave a second to figure out what I was talking about( he was probably thrown off by my reaction) and then he said, "Oh, this," and tugged at his hair. Then he said, "It's been hot and it's only supposed to get hotter, and all that hair under my mask was getting really uncomfortable so I decided to just cut it off."

So then he reaches a hand out and plucks at a stray bit of my hair and then brushes it behind my ear and says, "Do you ever think about cutting yours?"

As soon as he said it I couldn't stop myself from pulling at a strand of my hair with both hands. I looked at it and said, "Don't you like it long?"

He pulled back like something just flew in his face and said, "What? No. You're hair looks great. I was just thinking it couldn't be comfortable to have all that hair under your wig."

I know he likes long hair, I mean, there's Katie, Riley, all of the girls on his posters have long hair(and with the exception of Katie they all have at least a Ds), and I've never seen a girl with short hair turn his head, but I've got to admit he may have a point. It's hot as fucking balls out there. By the time we finished our jog I was literally dripping with sweat.

We stood in the kitchen chugging water for a good ten minutes.

I had a weird internal battle then. I knew my shirt was clinging to me, and I wasn't wearing a bra or anything, so I kept wanting to pull it away. Ya know, adjust it so it wasn't sticking to me like a second skin. On the other hand, I was kind of hoping it would catch his attention. I couldn't make myself look at him though, so I have no idea if he was checking me out or not.

After our training session, I went upstairs to take a shower, and at the top I turned and asked Dave if he wanted to take one too. I _thought _it was a blatant invitation for him to join me, but he just shook his head and said he had to jog home anyway so he'd just take one there.

I don't know if he's oblivious, being faithful to Katie, or just not interested(I have a bad feeling it's the last one, I mean there's no way he could that dense. ...Right?), but hopefully I'm making him think about me...

Anyway, when I got to her house, Angela greeted me at the door wearing a death glare and pajamas and reeking of Ben-Gay. First thing she said to me was, "I hate you so much right now."

I smirked, said, "I warned you." Then leaned against the door frame and then pretended to examine my fingernails as I asked her, "So are we doing this or not?"

She glared at me for a minute then said. "Let me get changed," and closed the door on me.

When she came back out, I was doing some stretches on the lawn, and she came over and said, "Ya know, you're going to have to at least get a sports bra." I admit I didn't get what she was talking about at first so she added, "You're showing through that shirt."

I'm still mad that I blushed at that.

Then she got this wicked grin on her face and said, "Hey, didn't you say you go jogging with Dave in the mornings? Did you go today? I bet you gave him quite a show."

And then my face just went up in flames. I don't really know why though. That's what I wanted. To... entice him. If he got a look at me in a nearly see through t-shirt then, I mean, that HAS to stick with him right? He'll probably end up thinking about me tonight. So, I was probably just flushed with excitement at the idea. Not embarrassed about it.

You can blush from excitement, right?

I went a little easier on her today because of the heat. I let her walk, but only for ten seconds at a time, and only if she'd run for more than ten seconds since I last let her walk, and I made her do an extra lap. But she didn't collapse this time so I guess I didn't push her too hard. Or didn't push her hard enough. One or the other.

When I had her working on her split I decided to work on mine as well, not that I need to work on mine. I think my split is about as deep as is physically possible. I just need to maintain it. Anyway, her mom came in while we were propped up against the wall with our legs in the air. She stopped and tilted her head to the side like and owl or something then tilted her whole body to the side when her head couldn't go any further until she was upside-down too and then asked, "Trying to do a handstand?"

I said, "No. Splits."

And she just said, "Ah. That makes sense," then stood back up and went back to whatever she was doing before.

That sent us into another giggle fit, and I'm sad to say I think I started that one.

When I got home I cranked the air conditioning up and stood in front of a vent until I thought my sweat was going to freeze on me. And it felt go~~~od.

After dinner Marcus asked me if I wanted to go to NYBC. I think it's well established that I can't resist that place.

It would have been nice too except that Riley was there. I swear to god she was flirting with Marcus. Okay, I know Dave is older than me, but Marcus has to be _twenty years_ older than her or something. I mean, come on! He's old enough to be her FATHER. And then when Marcus left( I asked if I could stay, and Marcus knows I go out with Dave after he's done with work anyway so he let me) she went right back to flirting with Dave(Bitch kept running her fingers through his hair.)! I knew she was a whore.

But it was nice getting to spend some extra time with Dave. And I ended up texting Jessi a lot when Dave was busy.

Hell, it was actually so slow tonight that ended up texting her while we were on patrol.

I told Dave I was just checking for tips, but he caught me and said, "We'll make a normal teenage girl out of you yet."

I told him, "I will knife you in places only Katie sees."

He laughed and said, "That's my Mindy"

I like it when he calls me "his".

Unfortunately it was only slow because we were too late. We came across a truck that had been cleaned out and the driver was unconscious on the ground. We called it in to the police, but other than that there wasn't anything we could do at that point. I figured it was a good time to bring up the whole "no killing" thing.

He... wasn't entirely against it. He just didn't like the idea of one us killing these guys and not the other, and he didn't think he could just kill people if he didn't _need_ too.

So I asked him about the night at D'Amico's, and he said that that had been different. It had been, in a way, self defense. They had tried to kill him, and they weren't going to stop trying to kill him, whether he gave up Kick-Ass or not.

I pointed out that these guys probably had standing orders to kill us on sight.

I think that made him really uncomfortable. He obviously got my reasoning(they're damn good reasons after all), but he said that we'd handled those guys the other night pretty well without using lethal force, and that he didn't put on the costume to become a killer. Then he said he'd think about it.

I think he'll come around to my way of thinking.

Still can't believe he cut his hair.


	86. Chapter 86

_**Mako's Message:** I don't know how this happened, but I don't think anybody's going to complain. Right now I need to figure out how to eat time without eating chapters because I'd hate to burn through another ten chapters and only get through a month again. Maybe Mindy will just be too busy for this... Anyway._

_I think there's a little something for everyone in this chapter. And if you're curious about some of the things I mention, go read the Independence Day chapter of Holiday Bonus. Unless you have already...but then you wouldn't be curious about then nowm would you?_

_Enjoy!_

* * *

Today started out so well, so of course it had to all turn to shit.

I'd been lounging around the house in as little as possible, so I guess Marcus took this as his best opportunity to attack.

I was looking through my clothes trying to find something short and light and finally understanding the appeal of all those stripperific outfits I see other girls wearing, when I look over and see Marcus leaning against my door.

"Looking for something cool to wear?" he asks, and then when I nodded he pulled a sundress from behind his back and held it out, dangling on his finger, "This should be exactly what you're looking for."

I said, "No way. I'll wear jeans first." Mostly it was the principal of the thing. I was not going to let him win this.

So he said, "Sure? The saleslady assured me this was the epitome of summer comfort."

"I'm sure.."

He shrugged and hung it up on my door, "Well, I'll just leave this here. You might change your mind. Besides, I want you to look nice for the barbeque today."

I yelled. "I always look nice you ass!"

And he called back, "And watch your mouth around the guests!"

I didn't _want_ to wear the dress, but what he said about it being cool and comfortable started to tempt me. And it's not like it was that bad. It was light purple and had a tiny pink flower pattern.

I fought it until Marcus called me down to start meeting people. Then I bit the bullet and put on the dress.

And he was right. It felt great. As soon as I stepped outside the slightest breeze felt like heaven.

Marcus didn't invite many people, just a few friends from work and their families, but it was still kind of overwhelming meeting them. It wasn't like at school where I could just ignore pretty much everybody. Here I actually had to talk to everyone. Even if it was only for a minute.

It was hard. I mean, for the first time in a month I was around people I had to act "normal" around. Hell, even at school I'd gotten into a nice little...comfort zone with Angela and Jessi, and Marty and Todd... I miss Marty. I mean yeah, we visit him every week, but it's so... stupid. He's not there. We're just visiting a body, not a person. I hope he wakes up soon. Erika still visits him, but I don't know how long she'll keep waiting for him. For all they fight, I know they really like each other, it's the only reason they could possibly have stayed together this long.

And Todd... I just haven't seen much of him. I'd see him around when we were in school, but I'd started eating with Angela and Jessi most of the time since Katie was always running off with Dave, and we haven't been going to Atomic Comic's as often as we used to, so I just haven't seen much of him. I hope he's okay...

Anyway, I kept hoping that Angela and Jessi would come over, but then I got a text from Angela saying that they wouldn't be coming over because Jessi's boyfriend broke up with her. I wanted to text back, "Thank god," but I didn't want to sound like a bitch. But seriously, good fucking riddance.

I was so happy when Dave and his dad arrived. Finally there was someone I didn't have to watch my every move around!

And I got some payback for his damn haricut.

"You're in a dress," he said, completely stunned.

His Dad wasn't nearly so surprised. He just said, "Oh look at you. You look great," then went over to start mingling with people.

I smirked at him and said, "Yeah, I'm wearing a dress, got a problem with it, Ass?"

His look of complete shock slowly turned into one of utter amusement, "No, but what brought this on? I thought you swore you'd never wear a dress?"

I shrugged, "It's hot. This is cool."

Dave said, "Oh, huh. I guess it would be. Hadn't thought of that."

And that's when I had the most awesomely wicked idea ever, "Oh yeah. It's like I'm wearing nothing at all. Especially since I'm not wearing underwear."

Dave... just sort of ...laughed awkwardly then raised an eyebrow and said, "Seriously?"

I plucked at my dress and pulled the hem up a little past my knees, raised both my eyebrows and grinned like minx and said, "Wanna see?"

He just laughed and held out a hand, and said, "No, that's okay, I believe you.?"

I dropped the skirt and shrugged, "Your loss."

Dave shook his head and laughed, " Girl, I don't know what to do with you sometimes."

I could have given him some suggestions, but that's when Marcus decided to come over and say "hi" and I never got him alone enough to talk dirty to him again. The moment was sadly lost.

I did ask him if Katie was mad about him being here though.

He said she wasn't, since they'd spent last night together(gag me) and her family was going to their lawyers annual 4th of July picnic.

Then he mentioned Riley was annoyed he'd turned down her invitation to go watch the fireworks with a friend of hers.

So, hey, at least that was kind of a win. Not like it's Valentines day or something... Though I did get him for Thanksgiving (heh, I had no idea back then... or maybe I wasn't...in love with him yet then..) and Christmas(That was a good day. Can't wait for next year. I'm going to buy mistletoe for every doorway in BOTH our houses.) Actually, speaking of win- No I keep these in order.

So, I missed Angela and Jessi being there, though I didn't really miss the idea of Jessi crying all over me again. Hopefully she's not as torn up about it as last time. I'll text her again in the morning, maybe see if she want's to go do something. But the barbeque was fun anyway. I ended up playing up the "innocent school girl" thing with the late teen and older guests, while making myself the "cool older kid" to kids that were under ten. No one really my age though.

Oh, and I caught this lady talking to Dave and asking when his birthday was. That's all I heard of the conversation they were having but it was enough. I've got enough competition without some cougar prowling after Dave too. So a dragged him away and glared daggers at her till she looked away. And yes, I do think he might've gone for her. I overheard Marty teasing him about his fantasies about his English teacher.

When it was over though, and after we cleaned up, and Marcus and Mr. L went out to a baseball game and Dave and I headed out for a night on the town.

Well, over the town. Sorta. I knew a building that was both pretty tall and relatively easy to get into that we could watch the fireworks from. We stopped and picked up some popcorn and sodas before suiting up at the safehouse.

And the fireworks were great. It was awesome. Might have been nice to have had some some real beer instead of soda, but it was still great to have Dave all to myself. The day couldn't have been going better.

And then, just when I was getting ready to try snuggle up with Dave...

Boom.

Literally. Boom. Like, two dozen bombs went off around the city.

People started panicking, alarms and sirens were going off. Mini-riots had started all over the city and they were in full swing by the time we got to one. And guess who were the "leaders"? The Cunts of course.

We didn't need to say anything to each other when we saw what was going on. We just waded into the chaos and started cracking skulls.

Unfortunately, or fortunately depending how you look at it, it didn't take long for the looters and people who just wanted an excuse to smash shit to scatter after we started laying into them. Dave zip cuffed as many as he could, but he ran out before we were done with the first one. I didn't bother. I just broke bones.

By the time we got to the center of the next one, things were getting really bad. People were really getting hurt. In retrospect, I'm kind of surprised it took so long for me to find someone committing a rape, since they seemed to be out to cause as much chaos and violence as possible.

I didn't bother beating him. I just impaled the guy with my swords and kicked him off of her.

I notice Dave looking at me, and I said, "What?"

A guy chose that moment to rush him with a knife. Dave disarmed him pretty easily, kneed him in the gut and then stabbed the guy in the shoulder. He looked back at me and said, "Nothing."

The swords stayed out the rest of the night.

And man was it a rush. It felt so fucking good to just be able to carve my way through the shit heads who thought they were so much better than everyone else, that looked at other people like they were there for their amusement, to put some fucking fear into THEM.

Dave left his batons holstered and just turned whatever they came at him with against them, whether it was a baseball bat, a broken bottle, or a knife.

Then someone tried to shoot Dave. Dave ducked behind a tree and I pulled out one of mine and put three bullets in him. Dave picked up the guys gun and disassembled it, taking the clip and leaving the pieces in the street.

We saw a few other heroes out kicking ass too. I heard The Gentleman before I saw him, "That is not how you treat a lady, ruffian!"(I fucking love that guy). Colonel Stars was laying into some guys with a bat(He's pretty spry for an old guy). Even saw The Guardian beating the shit out of some guy while he had another guy in a choke hold(He may be a holier-than-thou dick but he is good.)

We found Biker Knight sitting on car at what had been the site of another riot, but now whatever had been going on there was over and paramedics where helping people and cops were taking interviews and piling people into cars and trucks. There was a cop standing next to him holding a tablet or something, who nodded, took something out of whatever it was, handed the thing to Biker Knight who nodded and got off the car and started walking off. He saw us and gave a salute before he left though. It would have been nice to team up with him again, but he looked pretty beat up and I think he was limping so I'm guessing he was packing it in for the night.

I know I was fucking exhausted by the time things calmed down. We must have covered a dozen miles. I didn't even care when we walked into a store for some food and drinks. Or when we sat on the curb outside to eat and rest a bit before we headed back to the safehouse.

After Dave showered he asked if it'd be okay with Marcus if I stayed out all night, because he just wanted to crawl into that bed and sleep. I told him it wouldn't be a problem and that I I'd join him after I had my shower. That shower felt really fucking good too.

Now I get to curl up in bed with Dave. I guess the night wasn't a complete loss.


	87. Chapter 87

_**Mako's Message:** ...I...just felt this chapter had to be done. I don't even know if it _works_but like I said, I felt I had to do it. __... I have lot's more I want to say, but nothing I _should_ say. So, enjoy!_

* * *

Dave looked like he was out cold when I finally went to bed. I was careful not to wake him when I crawled into the bed, or when I slipped myself into his arms. It was nice to just feel his arms around me, but then he wrapped them tighter around me, and it was like electricity coursing through me. He pulled me against him pressed his face into my hair, and I just couldn't breathe.

I thought he was asleep, and didn't know what he was doing, or maybe that he thought I was Katie. My heart started racing with excitement at the thought of what he might do if he was too tired to remember where he was or who he was with, but then he spoke.

His voice was slow, thick and raspy with exhaustion, and was barely a whisper. If he hadn't been speaking right next to my ear I don't think I'd have heard him at all He said, "Escalation. That's the problem. We go out there, knowing these guys are going to try and kill us, and that's our edge. It's what keeps us on our toes. We know that if we loose, we're dead. They don't have that. I don't want to give it to them. As long as they think that losing to us means jail, they wont fight as hard as we will.

"I know what you're going to say, that they're not afraid of jail. It doesn't stop them from committing crimes in the first place. That we can be the deterrent. That they'll fear us.

"But they can fear can us without us killing them. We can make them wish the cops had gotten them. But if we have to... If we have to. If it becomes us or them. Or if they've done something horrible. Then we can kill them. They'll be scared of us, and they'll be scared to to fight us, because we just might. It'll be safer for us.

"I don't want you to get hurt."

I rolled over in his arms so I was facing him. I said, "Dave, I" and I don't know what I was going to say after that, but Dave said, "Go to sleep." and kissed me on the forehead. Then his hold on me loosened, and I lay there, wanting to say something but completely at a loss for words.

Finally, I came out here.

I still don't know what to say to that.


	88. Chapter 88

_**Mako's Message:**Sorry for the slight delay. I was working on another project for later. I think anything I have to say about this chapter will be saved for review replies..._

**_INITATE TIME_SKIP PROTOCOL: ALPHA _**

* * *

It's funny, some day's I'll come running to talk to you about any little thing, but lately I just haven't felt like talking about anything. It's not even like nothing has happened.

Like, I decided that I would apologize to Dillon for roughing him up. I went over to his house and his mom answered the door. He must not have mentioned what happened, because all she did was smile at me and say, "Oh, hello, you must be Mindy," and then she called Dillon to come down.

He seemed happy to see me, if nervous, and I can't really blame him for that.

I wanted to just get it over with so I said, "I'm sorry about what I did the other day. I'm not good with social things and I overacted without realizing it, but I do now, so, I'm sorry." Insert your own awkward pauses wherever you like, since they were there but I don't feel like making myself look as stupid as I felt.

He smiled like he was worried I was going to hit him for smiling and said it was okay, that that was part of why he liked me. He blushed when he said the last part.

I decided that was a good time to remind him that I wasn't going to be his girlfriend. He blushed even more when I did. Then I excused myself and went over to Angela's.

Who has been making very good progress I should note. She can do three laps around her block without slowing to a walk, she's doubled the number squats she can do, she can do a split, and she can stand with me on her shoulders for three minutes. (What's more impressive, since she's bigger than me, is that I can do the same.) Now, I admit that I'm only guessing at how to train someone to be a cheerleader(Yes, I've told her this, she said not to worry about it because they'll give us the actual routine to learn before tryouts) but she's going to be in great shape by the end of summer, and that's all she wanted.

And it's been hot as fucking hell this summer too, so when Angela invited me to go swimming I actually jumped at the chance. Of course, I actually had to buy a swimsuit first. But Angela was all too happy to take me to get one, she and Jessi wanted to get new one's anyway. I swear Angela tried on ever suit in her size. She did look great in the one she picked out though.

Jessi on the other hand confuses the hell out of me. The first suit she picked out was a one piece, and she looked great in it. But she tried on a couple two pieces, and ended up buying this string bikini despite the fact that when she put it on she looked like she wanted to crawl into a hole and not come out until winter.

I understood Angela going over to one of the male sales people and posing in her suit to get his opinion better than that.

She's been inviting Dillon on our pool trips too. I don't mind. He's not a bad kid. And he's learned to keep his camera off of me for the most part. And the way Angela poses for him is amusing. In an eye rolling sort of way. Jessi might also be flirting with him. I'm not really sure. He still seems like his main reason for coming is me. Don't know why. Angela's the one acting like it's a soft core porn shoot.

Oh, and Marcus almost thanked me and Dave for what we did on the 4th. Almost. He didn't, but I could tell he wanted too. Probably because we took a few dozen cunts (I still can't believe he's got so many people following him.) out of his hair. But he hasn't actually said anything. We have however made several trips to NYBC this month.

Speaking of which, Angela seems to be hanging out there a lot. And I mean a lot. There before we get there, still there when we leave a lot.

Not that it's been all sunshine and daisies or anything. Whoever did the guy Marcus was asking if I did has been making a habit of it. Most of them seem to have been the type I'd go after, but not all of them. I think they've credited him with twelve murders over the last month. Dave and I have been keeping an eye out for him, but we haven't caught site of any attempts at murder.

What made me come back to this though, is that I now have a _third_ identity.

I am now Mindy Maccready, Hit Girl, and Samantha Genovese.

Justice Forever was doing these volunteer things, soup kitchens, blood drives, shit like that(Our unofficial motto: No Fear). And I just couldn't see myself doing that. Not as hit Girl. But I like those guys, and I didn't want to look like I thought I was too good for that sort of thing. My mind just rejects the idea of Hit Girl serving food.

So, I talked to Col. Stars about it, and he remembered the whole "Uncle John" thing, so he suggested I could come and volunteer out of costume, posing as his niece. Get a wig, color change contacts, serve with my left hand. Maybe wear heels or something. N obody but Dave and "Uncle John" would know.

So, I got a long curly black wig, green contacts, borrowed some of Angela's clothes, and topped it all off with a padded bra.

They weren't expecting that last part.

I came in and ran over all, "Uncle John!" and hugged him.

He stepped back and said, "Wow...Samantha, you sure have...grown."

Then I fangirled all over Dave. It was so much fun. He had to act like he didn't know me, and I just kept pouring it on. Probably went a little too far though, he started to seem a little freaked out by the end of it. The rest of them thought it was hilarious though.

Shield asked what was so great about him that he always got the girls.

I said, "He's Kick-Ass!"

The guys laughed so hard I thought they were going to die. No, I know it's not that funny. It was that I'd "stumbled" onto an inside joke.

So, the soup kitchen deal was fun, but only because I was with everybody. It don't think I could have enjoyed it if I was volunteering by myself.

Actually, I don't think I'd have done it by myself at all.

I had a little bit more fun with my new self afterwards. Dave came over and I was still all done up and he asked, "Why are you still wearing that Mindy?"

I said, "What do you mean 'Mindy'? I'm Samantha, remember?" And I strutted over and walked my fingers up his chest and said, "And now that I've got you all alone..." and I leaned in to kiss him, and I was totally serious about it too, and he wasn't trying to stop me or anything either And then when I was just a couple inches away, he started laughing. And then I started laughing too.

I leaned back on the counter and took the wig off as we pulled ourselves together. Then he pointed at my chest and said, "So, what's with these?"

I sorta squeezed them together and asked, "What?Don't you like them."

He laughed again and said, "They're fine, as far as fake tits go, but why?"

And I just shrugged and said, "People suspect wigs and contacts and shit. Nobody questions a nice pair of tits." Then I pushed my chest out and said, "Wanna feel?"

He passed of course, and I was kinda glad for it. I guess I just didn't want him to put his hands on me when he wasn't really putting his hands on me. Or something. I don't know.

And so that's what's gone on the last few weeks. Oh and Dave's birthday is coming up soon. No word on what he's doing for it, but I have a great idea for his present.


	89. Chapter 89

_**Mako's Message:** Here we go. Another moment you've been looking forward too(or at least that I have) marred by an imperfect chapter. But I had no idea how else to do it. So, hope you enjoy_

* * *

I'm fucked.

And not in the good, "I lost my virginity" way. The "in so much pain you can't move while someone points a gun in your face" way.

See, today was Dave's Birthday. He turned 18. Which means it's now illegal for me to fuck him, not just morally objectionable. But that's not the problem. We do illegal stuff all the time.

Well, now that I think about it, I guess it is _part_ of the problem.

So I go over to his house. Not much of a party, Todd is there, Katie, Erika for some reason, and Riley. (Dave needs to make more friends that I don't hate.)

The plan was simple, order a ton of pizza, wings, soda, whatever the place had, watch movies and talk over them.

It wasn't bad though. I think everybody had fun for the most part. Except for Todd. I have no idea what's up with him. He was sitting with his back to me when I came in so I decided to great him with a sneak attack.(What? The best greetings are always mid-air and high velocity.) He wasn't fazed though. He just said, "Hi" and kept playing his game.

I asked him what it was, since I'd never seen it and it looked old, and he said it was Game Boy Color. He then added, "I was feeling retro today." But I didn't really get much more out of him than that. I hope he snaps out of whatever funk he's in soon. I want the old Todd back.

Anyway, despite the fact that Katie was pretty much attached to Dave the entire time, I enjoyed it.

Until Riley came over to talk to me.

This was after we'd done the candles, and everyone was sitting around talking and eating cake. I went into the kitchen to get another piece, and Riley followed me in. She leaned against the counter and asked, casual as all hell, "So, have you told Dave yet?"

I just looked at her sideways as I put my cake on the paper plate and said, "Tell him what?"

She said, without any hesitation, not teasing, just completely straight and serious, "That you have a crush on him."

It shocked the hell out of me that she knew, though "crush" doesn't do what I feel for him justice, but I kept it together and just said, "I have no idea what you're talking about."

Then she said, "Oh, sorry, guess I was mistaken." And she stood up, walked out of the kitchen and then bounced over to Dave and glomped onto him and asked, "So when do I get to give you your birthday kisses?"

I don't remember what Dave said, but I do remember Riley pouting at him, and then while she was still hanging off of him, she looked into the kitchen at me and said, "Mindy, you're crushing your cake!"

And she was absolutely right. I'd smashed the cake and plate up into a little ball.

I did the only thing I could do. Threw it away, washed my hands and pretended it didn't happen.

Then when everybody was leaving, she came up to me again and said, "So, you know Dave and Katie aren't doing so well, right?"

I'll be honest, I hadn't noticed. They seemed just as attached as they always have and I told her so.

She shook her head and sighed, "You're not paying attention then. They've been on the rocks for awhile now."

I was whooping for joy in my head, but all I actually did was ask her, "So?"

She smiled and said, "So...you better step your game up and work quickly if you want to snag him for yourself," and then she leaned in and whispered into my ear, "because if they break up, I'll be playing for real." And the she stood up, called out a goodbye to Dave, who came over and gave her a quick hug before walking her to the door and saying his own goodbye.

How the fuck am I supposed to win Dave against her?

I'd rather fight D'Amico unarmed again.


	90. Chapter 90

_**Mako's Message: **Hey people. Been busy busy busy this weekend. Wrote a LOT. Unfortunately it wasn't all for this story, but you'll see the rest soon enough. Also unfortunately_, _the two chapters I have for you are__ really short. But you're getting two of them, and as an added bonus this is the only time you'll be hearing from me until the next update. So enjoy this little bit of popcorn chicken(It's too small to even be a nugget) and I'll hopefully see you guys again before Christmas._

* * *

So, in case it wasn't clear last time, I didn't get a chance to give Dave his present on his birthday. It was one of those "not in public" things and with Katie AND Riley there I couldn't get him alone.

The day after I didn't go over to his house, because the last thing I wanted was to knock on his door and see Katie there. Even if what Riley said about that ship sinking was true, it's not a chance I was willing to take. Especially since Katie was still there when I left.

It was also one of our recovery days, so I didn't see him last night either.

But this morning I headed over as usual ready to give him his present before we did anything else.

He opened the door about two seconds after I knocked and was ready to head out right then, but I stopped him and pushed him back into the house. He had the strangest look on his face when I asked him if his Dad was home, but all he said, "Ah, no he left a few minutes ago."

So I pulled him into the living room and handed him the bag. I think I said, "happy birthday" a little louder than I needed to though, but I was as nervous as I was excited about this. I mean, on the one hand, he loved the gun, but he did say all that about not wanting to kill people, though he did give me a staff that turns into swords... but just because that's the sort of thing I love doesn't mean it's something he'd want.

But it turned out I was worrying over nothing. He pulled the package out of the bag, unwrapped it, and his eyes lit up. He pulled out the batons, held them up, and said, "Oh wow... these are amazing" as he ran his hands over the leather wrappings. Then he knocked on one and asked, "Are these metal?"

I nodded and he said, "Sweet."

Then I pointed at a small bare spot just under the little hand guards and said, "Press there."

He did, but nothing happened because he was holding it up so I reached over and pulled it up and off.

I really love that "shing" sound a blade makes when it's unsheathed. That's what they're talking about in stories that mention a "singing sword" after all. It's so beautiful.

And I'd thought Dave's eyes were wide when he opened his Christmas present. He was silent for almost a minute then said, "Holy shit."

I grinned and picked up the other one then stood up and pressed the release with it pointing down and the shell just slipped right off and thunked to the floor. Then I said, "Come over here," as I picked up the shell and slipped it back into place. It makes a really solid click when it's back in place. Totally worth the money. So I handed it to him and turned him towards the couch and said, "Alright, press the release and flick it at the couch."

Thing fucking FLEW off. If I didn't know better I'd have thought the damn thing was spring loaded. It's a good thing I have lightning fast reflexes or I'd never have caught the damn thing when it rebounded off the couch and the Lizewski's would have needed a new TV.

Dave just laughed his ass off and said, "Oh my god. These are fucking awesome. I love them Mindy, thank you so much."

And then he hugged me.

Really hugged me and held on for... I don't know. It was awhile but not nearly long enough. I wanted to just melt into him.

Best two thousand I've ever spent.


	91. Chapter 91

MARTY WOKE UP!

HE LIVES AGAIN!

Oh my god it is so great to see him up again. And he woke up in a way that's totally him.

So, Dave and I are sitting there, reading him the latest comics, and then suddenly we hear this hoarse ass voice say, "Why does that comic say August on it?"

We start freaking out and yelling for a nurse and his mom comes running in and she almost faints, and Marty's sitting there holding his hands over his ears going, "Jesus fuck guys, is that really necessary?"

And then I practically jump on him to hug him and he's like, "Okay, what the fuck? Who are you and what have you done with Mindy?"

So I let him go, punched him in the shoulder and said, "You've been in a god damn coma for almost five months you douche, I'm allowed to be fucking happy."

And he said, "Oh, so you really are Mindy."

At least his sense of humor is intact.

Once I was done Dave went over and bro-hugged him and said, "Man it is good to see you again."

Then the nurse came in and started checking him out, and his mom managed to stop crying long enough to ask when he could come home.

She said they'd like to watch him in case there are any complications, but if nothing comes up he should be okay to go home in a few days. They're also going to start him on physical therapy since he hasn't moved in months and is as weak as a newborn kitten.

But he's awake.


	92. Chapter 92

_**Mako's Message:** Well, I'm sure you've all been waiting for this to happen. I'm also equally sure that you'll share Mindy's __sentiment. I also recommend you go read _Only Her.

_Enjoy._

* * *

Dave and Katie broke up.

I went over to his house as usual, but the door was open. I walked in and I was going to call out to whoever might be in the house, but I could hear voices arguing upstairs. When I was about halfway up I recognized them as Dave and Katie's. It wasn't until I got to the top of the stairs that I could actually make out what they were saying though:

"What do you want me to do then?"

"I want you to stop seeing her."

"I don't spend that much time with her."

"Oh, yes, you do. And I mean stop seeing her at all."

"...what."

"I don't want you spending anymore time with Mindy."

"I...can't do that."

"You have to."

"Katie... I'm like, one half of her support system. I can't just drop out of her life. She needs someone to talk to that isn't Marcus."

"She has other friends you know."

"Yeah, well Marcus still want's me to keep an eye out for her, help her through school and everything. She's still barely holding it together from her Dad dieing. You don't just bounce back from something like that Katie, she's just a little g-"

"_I know who she is Dave!_ I'm not STUPID! Okay? So can we just drop the masquerade for once?"

"You... Then you should understand why I can't just stop seeing her."

"That's _exactly_why I want you to stop seeing her."

"What? What does that have to-"

"I don't trust her! Not with you. I've seen how she acts around you, and you're alone with her all that time. I can't believe she's not going to try something."

There was a long pause, and then Dave started laughing, slowly, and then it built up to the point you'd think Katie told the funniest joke ever. Then he finally pulled himself together and said, "Is that what this is all about? Man, you don't know her at all. Katie, she just likes fucking with people. She'll say or do whatever if she thinks it'll get a rise out of someone. You don't need to worry ab-"

"SHE'S FUCKING _IN LOVE_ WITH YOU DAVE! And she wants to FUCK you! If you can't see that then _you're_the one who doesn't know her!"

"I'm not going to stop seeing Mindy, Katie, you're being ridiculous,. There is nothing for you to worry about."

"Oh my god."

"Huh?"

"Oh my GOD."

"What are yo-"

"You're _already_ fucking her aren't you?"

"_WHAT?_ No!"

"You are! I knew you two were too close for your own good and I never imagined you'd actually do _that_ with her, but all those late nights, the nights you don't come back at all, how she acts with you, it all make sense!"

"Katie how could you think I-"

"No! No more. We're done, you sick fuck!" And she slapped him. Really, really, hard by the sound of it.

And then I heard her footsteps heading my way.

I knew that her finding me here was the worst thing that could happen right now so I bolted. I went down the steps as fast and as quietly as I could, I jumped down the last half and ran out the door. I stopped at the side walk and turned around just as Katie came out the door. I faked a smile and started to say hi but she just held up a hand and said, "Don't talk to me. Go have fun with your little playmate, he's all yours." and stormed off to her car.

If I really was just walking up, I'd have gone after her, demanded to know what the fuck her problem was. But right then I knew I needed to get to Dave.

I walked back into the house and up to his room. Dave was laying into his heavy bag like I've never seen while he blasted "Remember The Name". I had to yell for him twice before he noticed me standing there and then he only paused his beating of the bag long enough to turn the music down.

I asked him, "What the hell crawled up Katie's ass? Are you okay?"

He punched the bag and said, "Nothing. I'm okay. Everthing is fine!" and then he hit it with a spinning back kick that slammed it into the wall and almost took the bag off it's hook. He caught it as it swung back and rested his head against it, "Everything is fine."

I had no idea what to say to him. I still don't. What _can_ I tell him? Confess that I _do_ love him? That Katie was right about me? I can't imagine that doing anything but making it worse for him. Worse for us.

I wanted them to break up, but not like this.

Fuck.


	93. Chapter 93

_**Mako's Message:** So... with the child out of school and two holidays causing Daycare to be closed... this was a rough 12 days. And since my Holiday Bonus fic is rather time specific I had to prioritize that. So, sorry_ _for taking so long to get this chapter up. _

_It's roughly two thousand words, so I hope that makes up for the delay, and I also crammed a bunch of stuff in here that probably deserved it's own chapter... but I'm trying to speed things up after I blue screened at the realization that I've covered less than a year in story time... in a year. So! Gonna try and move things along as best I can._

_And I've really missed Marty. He made writing this chapter so much fun.  
_

* * *

So, a lot happened today. Some more important than others, but the best part of it was that today I got to do something I haven't done in months. Hang out at Atomic Comics with Dave, Todd, and Marty.

Marty was just allowed home yesterday, and his mom pitched a fit about him leaving, but as Marty said, "I just spent three and a half months laying in bed. If she thought I wasn't going out now that I could she was out of her fucking mind."

Dave and I took the day off completely to celebrate the occasion.

We started by taking him and Todd out to lunch. Marty didn't eat much, which was kind of surprising. I'd thought he'd have a mighty hunger and want to stuff himself after all that time, but he said he didn't really have much of an appetite and that the little bit he ate filled him up plenty, and that, "I'd like to not put the weight back on, honestly."

And I guess I hadn't really noticed it since it'd happened gradually, but Marty has really thinned down. I guess being fed through an IV tube for a few months with will do that to you.

Then we went to Atomic Comics and talked about everything Marty had missed in the world of comics.

I was kind of surprised at how much I enjoyed it. I mean, I'd always had fun when we hung out before, but I guess with everything I'd been too busy to really notice how much I missed it. I mean, Angela and Jessi are cool, but Marty, Todd and Dave? Those are my people. They are who I belong with. Dave was loving it too. It was the first time I'd seen him smile since Katie broke up with him. (Which is a whole other thing and I really don't feel like going into it. I'll just say that he hasn't told me the real reason they broke up and his heavy bag isn't the only thing he's been working over.)

And Todd was just... I kept thinking he was going to burst into tears and drag us all into a group hug. He didn't of course. What he did do was talk _a lot_. He burned through everything that'd happened in the comics they read in the first hour. After he was finished Marty just leaned back and said, "Thanks Todd. I might have liked to read them for myself though."

So then Todd started talking about all the games he'd been playing. I don't remember much of the details, since I kind of zoned out. I remember him talking about how he caught a peakachoo(whatever that is) that could shock ground types, but that was only because Dave and Marty simultaneously called bullshit on him. He insisted he was telling the complete truth and said they could come over later and see. They both said they were going to have to, but Marty muttered under his breath, just loud enough for me to hear, "Bet 'his sister' starts the game over before we see it." And he spent at least a half hour talking about his adventures in "Oblivion"

That actually manage to hold my attention for a bit, when he was talking about sneaking into the Mage's guild to try and steal some artifact, or when he got turned into a vampire, or how he raised his strength so much he punched a bear and it flew clear off the mountain.

Then he went off about how some girl on Facebook ("with the most striking eyes") had had the most ridiculous run of luck in "farkel", or something, and I zoned out again.

Eventually the conversation turned to the costumed hero crowd.

Marty was interested in hearing about what he'd missed out on, but he didn't seem very enthusiastic, but he did seem interested in hearing about how Hit Girl had made her dynamic entry and fucked up all the cunts back on Easter. And hearing that Hit Girl had teamed up with Kick-Ass seemed to really catch his attention(for obvious reasons). Todd was really enjoying getting to talk about all this, Dave and I only spoke up about something every now and then, and was talking about how after the massacre the active hero population had been reduced to about six, but slowly some new ones had appeared and hospitalized heroes had come back to the streets which was a big help during the Independence Day Riots. Not long after that, Marty interrupted him and said, "Hey, could you go get me another coffee?"

Todd said, "Oh yeah, sure," and jumped up to get in line.

That's when Marty leaned in and said, "Holy shit man, I can't believe I didn't realize it sooner. It's like fucking Clark Kent or something, does Todd know?"

I knew exactly what he was talking about, but Dave still went ahead and asked, "Know what?"

"That she's Hi-" and then the table jumped and Marty's eye bulged out as he keeled over onto the table with a sharp cry of pain, He looked up at Dave and croaked out, "traitor."

Dave shrugged apologetically then said, "No, he doesn't. He doesn't know about me either."

Marty pulled himself together a bit and said, "I guess everyone knows about me?"

Dave just went, "Ah, well..." so I jumped in.

"Everybody at school pretty much assumes you were one of the heroes in the fight. They've no idea which one you were though. Ten or twelve people disappeared from school that day. You'd only be the second person to come back though."

Marty looked kind of stunned and said, "Shit."

Dave and I shrugged.

Then he asked, "Does anyone else know who she is?"

I was pretty much resigned to Marty figuring it out. I was probably going to tell him if he didn't anyway. Assuming he wanted to suit up again. So I said, "Marcus does." I wasn't sure if I should say that Katie knew, since that would tell Dave that I'd heard them fighting about me and he wasn't telling me about it so I'm guessing he doesn't want me to know. But then he said, "And Katie figured it out."

So then I had to act all surprised because... well, he's obviously not holding it against me but if he knew I knew Katie already thought we were fucking then he might tell me to cut it out, and having Dave shut me down already, with Riley after him now too, was just un-fucking-acceptable.

Marty said, "No shit? Did that have anything to do with the break up?"

Dave said, "Not really. She was mostly mad about how much time I was spending on my- ah- 'hobby'. And she said I didn't need to be hanging out with Mindy during the day since I was already spending time with her at night." He really is a great liar. I knew the truth and I still couldn't tell.

Marty kinda laughed and asked, sarcastically, "What, did she think there was something going on with you two? That you were pedo bear's second cousin or something?"

Dave's expression was great, it perfectly matched his"you really had to go there" tone when he said, "No, Marty, she didn't."

Then Marty looked like he just got the best joke ever. He looked around for Todd who was just now getting around to ordering and said, "You know Todd has a crush on you." he said as he looked at me, "Well, on Hit Girl".

Dave and I said "What" in perfect harmony.

"When she, you, shot out the camera that night and the feed ended, the first thing he said was 'I think I'm in love with her' and then he said he was going to save himself for...you" then he laughed and said, "Man this is such a trip. It's like I'm sitting with fucking royalty or something."

I said, "Are you serious? About the crush thing?"

He shrugged and said, "Well, last time I checked he did. He could have gotten over it but by the way he was talking about Hit Girl a minute ago I doubt it."

I knew there were people out there who fantasized about me, if the user names like "HitGirlIsHot" on the registry are any clue, but I didn't think i'd actually run into one. And Todd? Really? I had no idea. At all. I guess that's because he's into Hit Girl, not Mindy... Maybe I could use that to my advantage with Dave.

If I focus on trying to seduce him as Hit Girl, then maybe it'll be easier to forget about the age gap... that might just work...

Anyway, that's when Todd came back so I decided to change the subject to my big news.

"I'm skipping a grade."

Utter silence.

Dave was the first to speak, "Seriously?"

"Yup. Apparently I scored high enough in all my tests while sleeping through half my classes that they figured I'd be challenged more in high school."

I have to accept of course. But I will. I mean, I'll be three years behind Dave, but I'll actually be in the same school as him so that's a big plus. And I'll be in the same grade as Angela and Jessi which will be nice. Them I'm not going to tell though. I'm hoping that I'll be put in the same homeroom as at least one of them. I can't wait to see the look on their face.

Marty said, "Well congrats. I knew you were sharp but I didn't think you were _that_ sharp."

Todd said, "Wow. That's so cool. Maybe you should help me with my homework."

Marty said, "Just because she's smart doesn't mean she can help you with a class three years ahead of her dipshit."

It was funny, but I felt kinda bad for laughing when I saw how embarrassed he was. Then a second later it looked like he didn't care and said, "Hey, we'll all be in the same yearbook!"

Dave kind of smiled and nodded and said, "Yeah, that will be nice."

I 'd never thought of yearbooks or anything, but now I'm wondering what he'd sign mine with.

After we decided we'd had enough of Atomic Comics, we were just going to go home, but then Marty stopped and said, "Hey, is Captain America still showing in theaters?"

So we went out and found a theater that was showing it. He was really happy he didn't miss it. Judging by his Battle Guy costume I'm guessing her really likes Captain America, and it wasn't just him wanting to see the next big superhero movie. It gave me an idea I'll have to talk to Dave about.

He got a nasty shock when went into the theater though. He looked up at the sign with screening times and yelled, "They made a _GLEE _movie?"

I gave an exaggerated shudder and said, "I've been trying to forget that night ever happened."

I'll admit only here that the movie wasn't bad. But I'm still trying to pretend Angela didn't drag me to see it. I've got a reputation after all.

We went out to dinner after and spent the entire time talking about the movie. The big thing we all agreed on was that Hugo Weaving was scarier as himself than as The Red Skull.

After that it was pretty late by normal standards, but even though Dave and I were usually up for a few more hours we both just went home. I would have liked to spend more time with Dave, but he's been spending a lot of time by himself now, and it'd feel wrong to not end the day when we split from Marty and Todd anyway.

And so that was it. Our first day back together a group. Probably the best day of the summer.


	94. Chapter 94

_**Mako's Message:** So, here I have three chapters for you. They're all of the "popcorn" class, but I think you'll enjoy them anyway. This one...is mostly just for fun, and cements this more as a slice-of-life thing... that really needs to be category on here._

* * *

So, school starts in just a couple days. I'm actually excited. Just a little bit though. I'm not jumping up and down with excitement here. It'll just be fun to see the shocked expressions on everyone's faces when they see me in high-school classes. That and I'd kinda like to see if I can skip again. It'd be awesome if I could graduate only two years behind Dave. And being done with school three years early would be awesome. Unless Marcus made me go to college. I don't want to go to college. I've already got a dual major in Ass-Kicking and Criminal Destruction, not to mention my suitcase cash. As long as I'm careful with it I should be set for the rest of my life.

Anyway, Angela decided she needed to drag me to the mall to do some back to school shopping. It's not like I couldn't use some new clothes, but shopping with her is a real chore. She wants to try everything on with everything else. It honestly wouldn't be so bad if she didn't insist on doing the same with me. I find something I like, I try it on. If it fits, I buy it. Trying everything on just to see if Shirt B looks great with Skirt Z is a pain in the ass and a waste of time. She's really lucky I like her or I wouldn't put up with it.

I _did_ learn something from all this though. I am now a full A-Cup. Hooray. Yeah, it's not much but at least it's something. And if grow two more sizes I'll be bigger than Katie. Four more cups sizes just to catch up to Riley though. I don't think I want to be bigger than Riley though, tits that big would totally throw off my balance. Especially if I don't grow at least another eight inches. I'd look fucking ridiculous.

It also explains why my suit has felt so tight around my chest lately. I know I have spare costumes in this size, not sure if there are any in a bigger one though... if there are, I know that's the biggest there'll be. Guess I'm going to have to get some new suits made soon either way.

I did actually like picking out bras. I was only going to get a couple, but Angela insisted I get at least one for every day of the week. I didn't mind though, it was kind of fun picturing Dave's reactions to them and trying to figure out which one's he'd like best on me. Angela was kind of surprised I put so much effort into it. She just figured I'd grab seven identical ones.

I hope the effort pays off.


	95. Chapter 95

_**Mako's Message:** This chapter was originally going to be two, but I combined them because they really weren't worth much on their own. They set up some stuf for coming chapters though._

* * *

You wouldn't think that you could just forget about a serial killer. Especially one that's been killing every couple of days for about two months now. And I really haven't, Dave and I have been keeping an eye out for this guy every night. But it just sort of drifted into the back of our minds. Wasn't something we were really thinking about(especially with the break up and Marty and everything else). But the bastard has made front page headlines again.

He killed two cops. At the same time.

Marcus said that they'd caught him in the act, and when they tried to apprehend him he killed both of them. The Police haven't released a description of him though. Marcus said it's because what the officers called in before they were killed was too vague to be of any use, and they don't have anyone else who has seen his face.

But we do know we're dealing with a guy, and if the description was vague it must have been something like, "Average height, average weight" but that's something at least. We're not dealing with a big guy, or a little guy, or a woman, so that narrows things down. Not but my much but it at least tells us who it isn't.

I'd really like to get this guy, but now that school has started I'll be busy with homework and shit again, and the cops have the advantages of resources and numbers. We'll have to be really lucky to just run into him, let alone catch him at this point.

The first day of school was nice though. I made sure I got into my home room early, just in case I had the same one as Angela. And I did. It was great. She walked in, stopped, stared, and said, "Mindy, what are you doing in here? This is the high-school side."

I smiled and said, "I know."

She didn't get it. She just asked, "So why are you here?"

I grinned at her, "Because I'm in high-school now."

She said, "Mindy, you're in eighth grade now, not ninth." Yeah, Angela can be a bit dense sometimes.

It was hard not to laugh at her, "No, no, I'm in ninth."

It looked like she still wasn't getting it so I just showed her my schedule. She still refused to understand. She insisted that, "This has to be a mistake."

I told her, "Nope. I skipped a grade."

Angela just seemed to deflate into the desk next to me and dropped her head onto it, "This isn't fair. How are you so good at all this stuff?"

I just shrugged and she sighed, "At least I'll always be old than you."

"And you're still taller than me." I offered,

Then she said"Got bigger boobs too," and stuck her tongue out at me. Is it any wonder why this girl is my friend?

Jessi wasn't in our homeroom though. She got to find out a couple classes later from Angela. She was happier about it than Angela was, and she was excited to find out that we still ate lunch together and that she now had two classes with me.

Dave and Todd eat at a different time now though, which sucks. Marty eats with us at least, but he's got a lot of extra work to catch up on. He passed to the next grade on the assumption that he would pass his finals, which shouldn't be hard. He won't need more than a seventy-five on any of the tests to pass, but he's only got the first week to brush up on everything, and if he doesn't get a passing grade he'll have to get bumped back a year. I have faith in him though.

I didn't see Katie so I couldn't rub her nose in my skipping again, but I'm pretty sure she knows. By the end of the day it seemed like the whole school was talking about me.


	96. Chapter 96

_**Mako's Message: **This chapter exists for a number of reasons; I felt it was time Mindy made a serious attempt on Dave, I hadn't done anything like it in awhile, it'll make what's coming worse_,_ it helps characterize Dave(or maybe make him more mysterious, and I just thought it'd be funny._

* * *

Why is it that I can face down a room full of armed criminals without blinking, but when I try and to come on to Dave I turn into a quivering bundle of nerves? I completely pussied out when we were suiting up for the night at the safe house. But that's okay since I really wanted to get out there and find Mr. Stabby (We didn't. In fact it was pretty slow. We didn't even have any requests in our inbox).

But when we got back and were changing back into our civies, I finally sucked it up and made my move. Kinda. I was going to go up to him in just my underwear, but I couldn't do it. It's not like it would have been any worse than what I wore to the pool all those time, but I just couldn't.

Bra and jeans I managed I though.

So, I walked into the room he was using to change, and he was pulling his shirt on and I just kind of froze up. I didn't know what to say. I didn't know what I should do. It's not like I was expecting him to see me without my shirt and suddenly ravish me or something. I knew I was going to have be the aggressor. I was going to have to put the moves on him.

And I didn't have one.

Everything I could think of just seemed pathetically weak. Like grade school flirting compared to what I needed to pull off.

And then he was packing his suit back into his bag and I knew my chance was slipping away so I just said, "Hey."

He looked up and he started to smile, then he just looked confused. He said. "Uh. Hey. What's up?"

And I suddenly felt incredibly stupid. I still had no idea what I should do so I ended up just reaching an arm up to hold onto the door frame and just sort of leaned against it and said, "What do you think?"

He looked at me for a second, and he really looked at me. I liked it, but it also kinda scared the crap out of me. I thought he might say something about how my bra matched my eyes(it's why I picked it) or even just ask "what do I think about what?", but he surprised me.

"You look good. It's a nice bra." and I started to blush and tried to think of something else to say when he added, "Don't think anybody should be seeing you in it though."

And then I started blushing for an entirely different reason. I stammered out something about a girl always wanting to look good and started to walk away to finish getting dressed, but then he said, "You look great Mindy You always do."

I thanked him, but I just knew he didn't mean it the way I wanted him to. He obviously still doesn't look at me like that, despite my new equipment. I'm just going to have to be persistent about this. Wars aren't won in a single battle after all. I'll need to get in under his skin, worm my way into his fantasies, make myself the only person he thinks about until he doesn't even consider our ages. Then maybe I won't have to make a move on him. Maybe he will just suddenly ravish me.

If Riley doesn't get him first.

I have better chance of winning the lottery.


	97. Chapter 97

_**Mako's Message:** I really wanted this to be longer, but it just wasn't in the cards. I'm also about to get kicked out of the library so I don't have time to say much else. Enjoy._

* * *

Right now nothing would make me happier than finding out how many knives I can stick in Katie before she dies.

Despite everything though, I don't think Dave would talk to me again, let alone forgive me, if I did.

And it's been bad. The second day of school people where whispering behind my back everywhere I went. Third day I was getting called to speak to guidance counselors, wanting to know if there was anything I wanted to talk to them about. Fourth day Marcus was even called in. He made it perfectly clear that he was sure no one was doing anything to me against my will.

He did sit me down at home that night to ask me if I was doing anything _willingly_.

Of course I told him that there was nothing going on between me and Dave. He was my friend and partner nothing more. For once I'm glad of that.

Dave's been kind of freaking out. Not majorly or anything, he's just been on edge all the time. He hasn't left my side though. We went to Atomic Comics yesterday and he still sat with me. Marty seemed to think the whole thing was hilarious, and I guess he would since he knows why we're so close. It actually made me consider saying, "If you're doing the time you might as well do the crime," but I knew that would probably just make it all worse.

Today though... someone painted "Pedo" on his locker.

The whispers have stopped being just whispers and I can hear people openly talking about me, but that's not as bad as the people who are just _staring_ at me. It makes my skin crawl and I don't know how much longer I can put up with it before I snap and stab someone in their fucking neck with my pencil.

Marty tried to help though. He sent me a text during school that said, "When I come talk to you, just go with it."

And after school, while everyone was getting their shit and packing up to go home, he came over to my locker and leaned against the wall and said, loud enough to be heard but not loud enough to seem like he was trying to be heard, "So, we still on for tonight?"

So, I smiled, nodded and said, "Oh yeah, totally. I've been looking forward to it."

Then he smiled back and said, "Great, I'll pick you up at seven." and touched my arm(It was a little more than just a friendly slap, but he didn't like, hold onto my arm or something) then left like it was all just perfectly normal.

I texted him later ("Dude! What the fuck?") and he said, "I thought it be good if people knew it wasn't just Dave you were hanging out it."

So I told him, "It looked like you were asking me on a fucking date."

And he said, "Funny, I thought I was just acting like a supportive friend. If people think that then that's fine since I kind of wanted it too. I'm hoping people will just figure Katie was imagining things. Might help if you hang out with that boy who likes you more. What's his name? Dillon?"

I said, "Well, thanks, but what if people start thinking you're fucking me too?"

He said, "I really don't care what those tools at school think. Besides, we're not, so there's no way to prove that I am. It's like telling a cop you robbed a bank when you didn't. There was no crime so they can't do anything to you."

It was kind of twisted logic, but I could see his point. The more I was seen just hanging out with him and Todd the less people would think there was anything special about me and Dave.

Then he texted me again a few minutes later, "Just don't kill me if this backfires and people start thinking you're a slut."

So I sent back, "If I get a rep as a slut /somebody/ better start fucking me. Lol "

I think I actually stunned him with that one. Took him like, ten minutes to respond, but he finally sent back, "omfg you're crazy girl. I bet Dillon would take care of that for you though." followed immediately by another message, "If you don't mind being seen with a someone from junior high that is."

I fucking love Marty. It's so great having him back.

I don't know how Dave's holding up to this though. I don't really get to see him during school much anymore. But at least we have the weekend now. Hopefully going out and kicking ass will help him relieve some stress. And if we're really lucky maybe someone at school will do something incredibly stupid between now and Monday and become the talk of the school.


	98. Chapter 98

_**Mako's Message: **This is not my best chapter. But I think I like it anyway._

_Anyway, it's getting close to the next bonus chapter, which should be fun. So, be sure to let me know what you think, good and bad._

* * *

If I was a lesser girl, I might have been scared tonight. Not from any danger I was in, because of what Dave did. You know, the whole seeing another side of someone. But it was such a rush to see it.

So Dave was tense as fuck when we went out Friday night. Understandable. But he didn't talk about what was going on. I get that. I'm not a big talker myself. He canceled our morning work-out the next morning though, and that I didn't get. Whenever I'm upset about something the first thing I want to do is work out. It helps to be too tired to feel.

He was there for patrol though.

We went out as usual, but he still looked like someone was going to take a shot at him. I was worried about him, so I asked him if he wanted to talk about it. He said, "No." and jerked his head away from me.

It was an odd thing. For someone reason I just pictured him jamming a cigarette in his mouth and gnawing on it with a vengeance.

He didn't really talk at all that night either. But he was doing a better job than I was. I couldn't stop watching him. He watched everything but me. Which is why he saw the cars and I didn't. Three of them pulled into an alley and he said we should follow them. We heard the gunshots before we caught up to them, and by the time we did it was over. Well, over for whoever the cunts dropped in on.

When we caught up there were a couple of them standing outside smoking. They spotted us before we could take them out, so the rest of them came rushing out and we smacked them down as fast as they were coming out. But we weren't able to make sure they didn't get back up because there was always someone else coming at us. Then the big fucker came out.

Big guy. Must've been six-five at least. Short mohawk, gold chains, and a leather jacket with no sleeves. He looked like he was trying to be Mr. T except for the big H painted over his face. And I don't think Mr. T ever ever carried a big fucking hammer.

Dave was in the middle of putting a guy down when he looked up and saw him. He just dropped the guy he was holding, stood up, said, "This one is mine," and just marched towards the guy.

One guy came at him and he backhanded the fuck out of him. Took the guy right off his feet without even breaking his stride. He had to duck the next guys swing, but he hit the guy in the gut and then just threw him behind him.

So, Mr H took a swing at him and it came high and Dave ducked it easily, but the guy brought it right back around in an overhead swing. Dave didn't just dodge it, he danced around it. He turned his side-step into a spinning ax kick and caught the guy in the back of the head. He caught himself with his hammer so he didn't hit the ground, but it didn't matter. In the same motion Dave brought his fist around and smashed the guy in side of the head. He started to go down, but then Dave caught him by the jacket and pulled him into his knee. He bounced off and it almost put him on his feet but Dave kept the combo going and nailed him straight in the face, knocking him into the brick wall.

Dave didn't let up for a second. He hit him in the gut, then the face(which bounced his head off the bricks again), grabbed his jacket, pulled him down and drove his knee into his gut which finally made the guys legs give out, but Dave didn't let him fall. He held onto him by his jacket and just kept hammering the guy in the face.

I'm not gonna lie, I almost got sucker punched a couple times because I was watching this, but it was hard to tear myself away from it. It was brutal. Raw. Passionate. It could have been confused with cold detachment, the way he was so methodical about it. The way he just dismantled the guy, but it was Dave's not letting him hit the ground the showed the passion in it. He wanted to hurt this guy. He wanted to destroy him. Kill him probably. It was so fucking hot. I wanted him so badly. I wanted him to come at me with that kind of passion. Wanted him to want to fuck me as badly as he wanted to hit this guy.

Hell, I think even a couple of the cunts forgot they were supposed to be fighting while this was going on. I know a handful took the chance to run for it. But even once the rest were either unconscious on the ground or putting as much distance between me and them as possible, he kept hitting him.

And I kept watching.

Finally he just stopped. He let the guy fall to the ground and he slumped against the wall. He didn't look at me, he just kinda stared at the ground at my feet. He was really pale, and I think he was shaking. I said, "Kick-Ass." but he didn't really respond. Just sort of twitched. I asked "Are you okay?" He didn't respond at all that time.

I walked up to him and started to reach out to him... but then, I don't know why, instead of touching him gently I grabbed his chin and made him look at me and I said, "Kick-Ass. Are you okay?"

Then he tells me, "I got him."

I laughed and said, "Yeah, you got him."

He started to smile, just a tiny one, and said, "He's the guy who hit him. Battle Guy."

And then it all made sense. I asked him "Why didn't you let me get a shot at him then?"

But he didn't answer. He just said, "I'm ready to go home," and started to walk away.

I took just enough time to grab the cash(I might have left it, if it wasn't already in a bag on the floor just inside the door. It was practically begging me to take it) before catching up to Dave.

I half hoped Dave would want to crash at the safe house so I could curl up with him in bed. But I'm kinda glad he didn't. It meant I wouldn't risk hearing him tell me to sleep somewhere else. I'm such a coward when it comes to Dave. It'd be funny if it wasn't so fucking pathetic. I mean, I'm Hit Girl for christ's sake. I'm the best crime fighter in New York. I know for a fact that there have to be dozens of guys who'd want to sleep with me. Hundreds even.

None of them the one I want.

But that doesn't matter. Not tonight. We got the guy who put Marty in the hospital. That's what matters.

But Dave still isn't talking to me.


	99. Chapter 99

_**Mako's Message: **...I am suddenly not so sure about this chapter... Well, be sure to let me know if you think this worked or not._

_Anyway... this last week has been stupid. I've either had__ something urgent to deal with or I've been read to fall asleep on my feet, so I'm sorry I haven't updated sooner._

_But this is Ch99, which means the next one(which WILL be up tomorrow) is Ch100(Three digits! Whoo...?) and the end of this set of twenty, so if you're interested in the bonus chapter now wold be a good time to see if you meet the requirements(ten reviews between Chs 81 and 100). And I should be back to the regular schedule this week._

Enjoy!  


* * *

Have you ever noticed that when your sick, you feel absolutely fucking miserable and spend all your time trying to not get sicker, but then when you do finally cross the line of no return and end up puking your guts out and then you actually feel kinda good? Well, I told Angela and Jessi about why Dave and Katie broke up (and a bunch of other shit) and it kinda felt like that.

It's still the worst part of being sick though, so I don't think I'll be rushing to emotionally vomit on anyone if anything like this happens again.

If it does I'm probably just going to stab someone instead.

Now of course I didn't tell them about us being super-heroes(or how I really WAS trying to get into his pants), but I did kind of talk too much about how much he meant to me, how he'd helped me after my Daddy's death, and how it was my fault this was happening and now he wasn't talking to me and I had no idea what to do.

Like I said, it's like vomiting; once it started coming up it was hard to stop it. It was practically dumb luck that I didn't spill anything important.

Angela got really quiet about the whole thing, which was really weird. She's usually the one who gets all hyper about shit. Jessi started quiet but then she just kind of leaned in and asked, "Is it true?"

I was still in post-puke mode so I just blinked at her like an idiot and asked what she was talking about.

So she spelled it out for me, "Are you and Dave having sex?"

Then she was just STARING at me, serious as fuck, waiting for me to answer. IT WAS FUCKING WEIRD!

So of course I said, "No." Which I would have said even if we were but that's not the point.

Then, even weirder, she started getting antsy and asked if we were doing _anything_ together.

Again I told her, "No."

Weirder still I think she _wanted_me to say yes. She kept fidgeting and wouldn't look me in the eye and then she asked, "Do you want to?"

And I had no idea what to say to that. I mean, she SEEMED totally okay with it, but I wasn't sure what Angela would think if she knew I was interested in him and I'd already said I was interested in Kick-Ass(No need to give them any hints), and anyone else knowing is probably going to be more of a problem than a help anyway so I just said "No" in my best, "Of course not. Duh" tone.

Then Angela finally spoke up and asked, "Are you sure that it's Katie? That started the rumor?"

I said that I was. Who else could it be? Dave and I got through a whole year without any rumors and it's just now, the first week of school, that one starts, before anyone has any chance to see us doing anything together let alone something suspicious, and this just so happens to be right after Katie breaks up with him after accusing him of fucking me?

She didn't want to believe it of course, "But Katie's so nice. She'd never do something that mean."

Personally I think Katie is nice to people and does all the volunteer and charity work because it makes her feel likes she's better than other people. Nobody is that altruistic. So of course if she's feeling all holier-than-thou she'd probably feel like turning the school against a guy who wronged her would be perfectly within her right.

She started to object and defend her, so I smacked her with a pillow and reminded her that I told them all this so they could help me figure out a way to fix it.

They said that it sounded like he he might just need some space to try and figure things out. He was calling to cancel and apologize for missing our usual weekend stuff and not just not showing up so they figured he had to care about my feelings. The thought that maybe not being so visibly close to him might help the situation, since the less we're seen together the more quickly people would forget about it. And that I should probably tell him I heard them break up.

The first I'm okay with, but I'm worried it'll affect our teamwork and our training. I really don't _want_ to be away from him more than I absolutely have to but they might have a point... seems like that might make it look like _were_ doing something wrong though... At least we'd still have out patrol nights, not that he's been talking much then either. The third thing... telling him... No. I can't do that. He's not saying anything, and it might just be because he doesn't want to embarrass me or something, so if I tell him I already know then he might tell me to stop doing what I've been doing and can't risk him rejecting me yet. I need to up my odds of him taking me before I call him on it, so I'm just going to keep trying to make myself the girl he thinks about until he either accepts me advances or he tells me to knock it off.

I don't want to make it worse though... I guess it couldn't hurt to back off a little...


	100. Chapter 100

**_Mako's Message: _**_Told you it'd be up today. And, just as a warning this one is really, really, _really_, short. I think it works and you'll all love it anyway though._

_A hundred chapters... wow. I really didn't think I'd get this far into this story. But between the amazing support and love this story has received, and it taking on a life of it's own, I fear I may just end up writing _300_ chapters._ _Hopefully that won't wear out your patience with me. It's been a fun ride so far, I think, and I'm wondering how many of you have been with me since the beginning.  
_

_Oh, enough of my rambling, you came for the story not me rambling on._

_Enjoy!_

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OMG! Angela just SMACKED THE SHIT out of KATIE!

That was the most amazing thing EVER! Just walked rigt up to her and slapped her right across the face! Katie's still standing there fucking shellshocked.

OMG!

BEST DAY EVER!

I have to go chase down Angela and hug her now.


	101. Chapter 101

_**Mako's Message:** This chapter is a dissapointment to m__e. I was seriously expecting this to, well, be longer than this, a lot longer. But I've coaxing it for a day or so and I just can't get anything more out of this without breaking form... but knowing my luck I'll figure out a way to do it about ten minutes after I post this. Anyway, there's a crossover and a cameo in names only in this chapter. Maybe I'll be able to do more with them in later chapters. Anyway, I'll be taking a short trip to New York this weekend. Any suggestions on what I should see? And the bus I'll be taking has internet so I'll probably spend a few hours in my Kick-Ass forum if anyone is interested._

_Oh, if people want me to, I'll go back and add a more detailed description of Angela smacking Katie to the last chapter. Still haven't been able to do the review count yet either, probably do that on the bus as well. Oh, and I think I'll be posting a list of upcoming events in the next chapter, kind of like my previous teasers, but not random lines of dialogue. _

_Enjoy._

* * *

Dave still isn't talking to me, but he's not talking to me less.

I mean, he's not giving me the silent treatment or anything, but he's not really talking to me. Not like we used to. Like he's keeping me at arms length or something. He doesn't really seem to be talking to anyone much though, and we've still been going out at night, but it just doesn't feel the same.

I haven't really had time to think to much about it though, since I've been super busy training Angela since the cheer tryouts have started. He's here though, watching the tryouts with me. Well, not really "with" me, he's sitting off on the other side of the bleachers. But he's here, so, that's something right?

And I had no idea this would take DAYS but it looks like I had the right idea with how to train her because the first day was just weeding out the girls who couldn't even keep up. It wasn't anything spectacular, they just did a five minute routine of, basically, glorified jumping-jacks and hip swaying.

But it was funny watching a couple of these skinny bitches collapse from exhaustion just from that. Bet they wished they hadn't skipped breakfast that morning. Or dinner yesterday. Angela seemed proud that she wasn't even winded, she was grinning at me while the coach, captain and co-captain walked through the ranks checking everyone out.

They cut the number of hopefuls by about half that day.

The next day they started teaching them a routine, I think they were mainly trying to see how well they could take direction and how fast they picked the routine up, since they didn't actually _do_ the routine, but they still cut a few of the girls who just were not getting it. But how hard could it be? I mean, I was spotting who was doing it wrong after the first time they showed it to them.

They gave the girls two days to practice the routine on their own, so I spent those two days drilling it into Angela's head. She should be able to do it in her sleep now. She still insisted I go through it with her a few more times while we were waiting for the final tryout. I'm sure she's got this in the bag though.

Of course, I wasn't expecting her to get nervous and fuck up.

Okay, so aside from one or two minor missteps she did fine. Even with her mistakes there were only two or three girls that did it better than her, so she should still make the team.

Except I just realized I have no idea how many slots are open...

Well damn. She didn't make it. Well, she made the reserve team, but that's not really the same thing. I can't believe she didn't make the A-Team. It's so stupid. Yeah, she fucked up a couple steps, but the rest of her performance was better than everybody else's. No contest.

I guess I could go break one of the other girls knee caps, or trip her on the stairs or something. I've already put so much effort into getting her on the team that a little sabotage wouldn't be a big de

Okay, what the fuck. How do I get myself into these things? No one is allowed to say I'm a bad friend. EVER.

Cameron and Tashaya, the captain and co-captain, just came over and asked me to join the team. I mean, seriously? If I wanted to be on the team I'd have fucking tried out!

They were persistent though. Cameron said they watched me practicing with Angela and that I was easily the best they'd seen in a long time (Well, she actually said I was the best she'd seen since herself) and that since I was so small I'd be perfect for the top of their pyramid. Tashaya was mostly impressed by how well I could move. She said it looked like I'd been doing this for years, so I gave them the "I've been doing gymnastics since I was five" excuse which just made them want me even more. Apparently most girls just want to be on the team for status or to get guys, and finding someone with the kind of dedication and talent they said I showed was rare.

So I asked if they had saved a spot for me or if they were going to kick someone off if I said yes. They actually said they'd saved a spot for me since I was their first choice.

Now, I'm not the kind of person to just let an opening like that go, so I told them I'd do it under one condition; they move Angela up from the B-Team.

So now I'm a cheerleader.

The things I do for my friends.


	102. Chapter 102

_**Mako**__**'s Message:** Firstly I want to direct you all to my Kick-Ass forum. I put up a thread with ten prompts in it for fics. I'd really appreciate it if you all went and had a look. Hopefully you'll get some ideas._

_Other than that, here's a small action scene. __Hope you like it._

* * *

I don't care anymore. I'm going to kill her. The next time I see that bitch I'm just going to punch her in the face and I'm not going to stop until she doesn't have a face anymore.

Dave got attacked at school today.

Three guys jumped him in the hall and just started kicking the shit out him, yelling shit about how he was a sick freak and how he should have killed himself, and just fucking taunting him and just... If Marty hadn't held me back I would have killed them myself.

I don't even understand why he was letting them beat on him like that for so long. He actually let them get him on the ground and start kicking him before he started fighting back.

It was kind of funny when he did though, because it became really fucking obvious that he'd been letting them hit him. One of them tried to stomp on his face so Dave just rolled onto his side so the guy's foot came down beside him and then he punched the guy in the balls. The other two stared in shock as the first guy went down, so then Dave swung his legs around and took another guy's legs out from under him as he got up on his feet. The third guy tried to punch him as he stood up but Dave just stepped into it, pushed the the punch aside and gave him a mouthful of elbow.

He stood there f\staring at the floor, bleeding from his mouth and nose and a few other cuts on his head for a moment before he finally looked up. He looked at me for a second and he almost smiled before he looked away and then limped off. The crowd that had been watching opened up to let him pass and then closed up again. That was the last I saw of him today. I guess he went home.

He still hasn't said anything about what's going on. Just a text saying that he's taking tonight off.

I hope he gets over this soon, I don't know how much more space I can give him. I should be with him right now, not pissing around at home.

At least Marcus doesn't know I'm on the cheer team yet.


	103. Chapter 103

_**Mako's Message:** Sorry about the delay. I __had the Holiday__ chapter to work on and __the Bonus chapter has been giving me problems__. Hopefully I'll have it and the next chapter done promptly. And I could spend a few pages bitching about what's been going on the last ten days... so I won't. _

_Anyway, I think you'll all enjoy this chapter. It should contain a few things you've all been wanting to see for awhile now, so I'm just gonna let you get to enjoying it.  
_

* * *

Well... today was full of surprises.

It started earlier than usual, since Dave called off patrol last night, not that I blame him. Not sure I'd be in the mood for patrol if(And this is a pretty damn big IF) I'd gotten kicked around like that either. So since we didn't go out I went to bed earlier than usual and woke up before Marcus got home from work.

It was weird for me, since I can't recall having the house to myself for any real amount of time since I was grounded. It gave me the strangest urge to do something crazy. So I went around and closed all the curtains and then spent the next few hours walking around the house in costume.

I don't even know why I did it. It was so childish I'm almost ashamed of it. Even back with Daddy I wouldn't wear more than my belt and skirt, but today, there I was kicking back on the couch in full costume watching TV. It _was_ kinda fun though.

Right up until Marcus came home early to find me eating cereal on the couch, still in costume.

I think it might have been a little much for him. He didn't get mad, or laugh, or even cry. He brought his hands up to rub at his eyes and said, "Go change. Just... go change." If anything he sounded tired. Might have even aged him a little.

That changed about an hour later.

Angela came over and just could not stop talking about the cheer squad. How often would we practice(No idea.), should she keep up her training regime or would practices be enough(If she wanted to be better, no, scheduled practices would not be enough.), how hot would she look in the uniform and should she go on a diet(About as hot as she always does and no she shouldn't.), would we be cheering for every team or just the football team(No idea, but the less I have to do this the better.), would we be entering into cheerleading competitions(Again, I had no idea.)? And it just kept going on and on like that until Marcus came in wanting to know what all the excitement was about.

I tried to stop her, I really, really did. But I did not expect her to bite me.

So she blurted it out, "Mindy and I are on the cheer team!"

All the damage done to Marcus from coming home to find me in costume was undone and then some, and I started wondering if I could spend the rest of my life under the floorboards in my room.

Marcus insisted on taking us out to celebrate, and since the first place we both think of when we think "celebrate" is NYBC, I didn't really have a problem with this. And the opportunity to see Dave was great too. I think Angela might have felt the same about Riley.

I kinda feel that way about her now too though, competition or not.

See, when we were walking up to the place, we could hear shouting from inside. We couldn't make out what they were saying, but it didn't really matter because before we got to the door, it swung open as Katie back out. She was saying something like, "I only" but she was cut off by Riley shrieking, "GET OUT!" and throwing one of those plastic sundaes they have on display at her head. Katie managed to dodge it and it bounced off the door.

Katie yelled back, "I'm going! I'm going!" and pushed the door shut before Riley could throw anything else at her. Then she saw us, and she looked at me and she said "Oh! Mindy, I-" and stopped(Probably because she saw the knife in my hand.) and said, "Never mind, I- bye." and she turned and ran off down the street.

Riley came out then and picked up the fake sundae and yelled, "Next time I wont miss!" Then she turned and saw us and she changed from pissed to pleasant in an instant, "Oh, hello, sorry about that. Just customers causing trouble, no big thing."

So Riley is at least 20% cooler in my mind now.

It didn't end there either. She held the door open and waved us in, told us to have a seat at a table, that she was glad to see us, and that she was especially glad to see me because she said Dave needed to talk to me. Though it was more like _she_ wanted him to talk to me, since she practically had to shove him out of the back and towards our table. Then she called Marcus and Angela over to the counter to try something new she was working on and trying to get onto the menu.

So Dave sat down with me and didn't say anything for a minute. Then he finally said, "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have been ignoring you like I have. If I can face people trying to kill me, you'd think I should be able to handle a little public ridicule." We laughed a little at that, but then he stopped and said, "But I was just mad about...everything. Katie breaking up with me, the rumors, the abuse, and I'll admit I was a little angry with you about it. That I did think this was all partially your fault. I know it's just you being you, and I do like you the way you are, but you have been acting..." and he stopped and seemed to really think about how he wanted to say this before deciding on, "inappropriate around me. And I don't mind, it doesn't bother me, but it obviously gave people the wrong idea. So, I'm sorry for not talking to you this last week, but can you please not play like that anymore? At least not where other people might see?"

And, it did hurt to hear that he'd blamed me for all that, even if it was a just a little bit, but I couldn't even tell myself I was blameless. But what he said about not minding the way I acted with him was nice. When he asked if I could just refrain from doing that around other people I couldn't resist smirking at him and asking, "So, if we're alone, I could sit in your lap if I wanted?"

Dave half laughed half sighed and covered his face with his hands as he said, "Oh god. Yeah. Sure. Whatever. So long as nobody sees it, why not?"

I grinned back at him and said, "Awesome."

And he laughed a little again, then said, "So, I found this game on my computer that I totally forgot I had. After I'm done with work you want to come over and give it a spin before we go out tonight? It's really fun."

And of course I accepted. In fact, he should be getting off now so I'll end this here and get ready to go over there. Dave's lap is calling to me.


	104. Chapter 104

_**Mako's Message:** __Sorry for the delays. Life has not been conducive to writing lately. But here's a new chapter for you. Also, I'm sorry, but the word count of this chapter(for those who check it) as well as the scroll bar is a lie. This chapter is only 1040 words long. What you're seeing are a number of announcements and teasers which will be found after the chapter. _

* * *

Well, I guess I should start by saying that yes, I did get to sit in Dave's lap. When he sat down at the computer to show me that game (Which is pretty fun actually. You're in some massive cave system fighting monsters with all sorts off different weapons while helping these rabbit/puppy things fight against an evil doctor), I just sat down right in his lap. He gave me this look that said, "Really?"and I just gave him a grin right back that said, "What? You said I could?" then pressed myself into his chest so he had to wrap his arms around me to type. It was great, feeling his arms wrapped around me. Okay, well, not really _around_ me, but it was close enough.

I've been able to do stuff like that a few times now actually. I love just being able to be that close to him. It's totally worth it to wait for those few moments we have when it's just us to be able to sit in his lap, or lay across him, or curl up against him, or whatever. It doesn't seem to bother him either. I'm not sure if that's a good thing or not though. I haven't noticed if it's given him a hard on or anything, and I haven't exactly tried to grope him to find out so... Yeah. I don't know if it's even having any effect on him at all.

Cheerleading practices have been interesting. Well, not interesting really, just less a waste of my time than I thought they'd be. It's a decent workout, not tough enough that I have to cut back on what I do normally, but it should be enough to make me even better than I am, so this could be worth it. Angela sure is enjoying herself. She's starting to attract more attention from guys, but she's not allowed to date so I don't know what she plans to do about it.

Speaking of which, Jessi's attracting guys like flies again. She hasn't gone out with any of them yet, but they all seem to be the same breed as the the last two. Shame she gave up on Dillon. At least we know he's not a jerk. You'd think they might have gotten together behind my back or something, since I've been hanging out with the guys mostly since Marty woke up. Not counting all the time spent training and practicing with Angela. We should all go do something. It's been awhile since we have.

Oh, and there's been more whispering about me and Dave now that he's being openly friendly with me again. But I really don't care. All the girls in school would wish they were in my position if they saw him without his shirt. Oh, and speaking of how he looks his hair is starting to get long again. It's about half the length it was before. It's okay like this. I can wrap my fingers in it at this length. Maybe a little longer. I just hope he doesn't cut it again.

I wish there was more to talk about, but there just isn't much to say. School has just been school and cheerleading has just been practices. Well, I'm starting to like the captain and co-captain. Cameron seems kinda driven about the whole thing. Like she's determined to the best at everything she does. But it doesn't seem fake the way it did with Katie. It's like she has a goal and all this is just a step along the way. Tashaya seems more like a typical cheerleader, except she doesn't take shit from anyone. Very self confident. If you don't like her she doesn't care, but I don't know why you wouldn't. Not that I plan on making friends with either of them, I just can't see why you'd dislike those two. They're friendly, smart, pretty... actually, I can kinda see Angela being in their place in a couple years.

It's funny, Coach Baum is practically the coach in name only, Cameron does most of the work. They do spend a lot of time talking about stuff though. Don't know what since they tend to do it in private. Probably just discussing what they want to do with the team, schedules, new routines, exercises, stuff like that.

What's really depressing is how quiet things have been for Kick-Ass and Hit Girl. We might need to spread ourselves out a bit more because we just never seem to be were the action is. It's not like we have regular patrol routes or anything like that so I can't believe criminals are avoiding us intentionally. And crimes ARE being committed, just not when we're around. It has given us more incentive to focus on this serial killer though, as it gives us something to do. I've tried asking Marcus to tell us what the cops have on the guy, but all he's been willing to cough up are the locations of all the murders. It's not much to work with. He's done a lot of killing but there's no pattern. Not that I can see at least. But if it were that easy the cops would have him by now.

What we did do was try and find any similarities between the locations. Dark alleys, behind bars, parking lots, whatever. But we didn't find anything like that. What we found is that they're almost all in the same places Dave and I like to keep an eye on. Places that look like they'd attract trouble. The guy certainly seems to favor the scum of society, but he's killed way to many innocents for it to be a Punisher wannabe.

So we just keep moving around. Sometimes we stay close to home, other times we go all the way across town, but we haven't run into the guy. Not even a mugger in the last week. But it's still alone time with Dave. Not that I've tried anything with him in costume. It's crossed my mind, but I don't want some smart ass to catch me making a move on him and posting it on Facebook or something. Too many people know who Hit Girl is for that to go over well.

I hope we run into the cunts soon. They're always good for some fun.

* * *

_**Mako's Message Continued:**_

_First of all, finally, the bonus chapter. If you're name is on this list but you haven't received it yet_ send your e-mail address to me in a PM.

Dogbertcarroll

TorontoBatFan

StakeTheHeart  
Mindless Violence Fan

DangerousBeauty84  
RobGill

2Wingo

Hailey C. Black

Morbid Crow

Naitouk

_Congratulations and thanks to you. You're reviews help me make it through the day._

_Second, I owe some people some pimpin'._

2Wingo_ is writing a highly amusing _Dealiest Warrior _story pitting Big Daddy against Il Duce(did I spell that right?) from Boondock Saints._

MaybeIt'sTheVodka _just finished a highly amusing story called _When The Addiction Kicks in, You'd Better Run_. Yes, it's a Dave/Chris fic, but it's highly amusing, has very little actual slash in it, and there's even a bit of Dave/Mindy thrown in at the end just for the lolz_

_Third, it's been awhile since I've given you all any teasers, and I think you're due for some. These won't be lines of dialogue like before, as I've pretty much given those all the way up to the end of the damn story so go back over them if you want as they will cover bits from all of these. What these are, are names of plotlines or story arcs._

"Painless"

"Enemy Territory"

"Retaliation"

"Enemy Mine"

"It Gets Better"

"Roommates"

"The Vampire Murders"

"Fallen"

"The Demon of New York"

"The Rift"

"Mindy Gone Wild"

"Not Too Late"

_That should just about cover everything I have planned, more or less_, _until the end of the story. They are roughly in chronological order, and they will overlap each other._ _Happy speculating!_


	105. Chapter 105

_**Mako's Message: **Okay, so, this just happened. I was trying to work on a different fic (_Replay_) and then I had this idea and I started writing it and here it is._

_In other news, it occurred to me that I haven't written about one of Mindy's smutty dreams in a while, and I had an idea for, what I hope, is a good one. I'm just not sure if I want to do it. So. You guys in the mood for another one of those, or would you all prefer I didn't write any more of those? Of course, there WILL be real smuttiness between them, eventually, in this story__ so I wont be avoiding it forever._

_Oh, and I'm not going to stop allowing anonymous reviews, but I'd REALLY prefer if you submitted signed reviews_ **so I can respond to them.**

****_Anyway, enough rambling. Enjoy!_

* * *

I really hate Times Square. It's an assault on the senses. There's so much noise, lights, and people that you might as well be blind. If it's not right in front of you good luck knowing what's going on. It's a pickpocket's dream come true.

That's why we avoid going there, in costume or out.

And that's why I'm still trying to figure out how we ended up there.

That said, where else can you see two Elmos beating the crap out of each other?

That's actually a double edged sword though. With all the costumed characters, people tend to either ignore us or try to take photos with us.

Anyway, the Elmo fight.

We were kind of hugging the walls, not wanting to get into the mass of people sightseeing or just trying to get through that mob and... well, leave really. Once we got there the only thing on our minds was "Whoa, fuck this."

But then, this family was taking photo's with an Elmo outside of a restaurant , and then this other Elmo comes over and shoves the first Elmo, yelling, "I told you to stay off my block!"

The first Elmo says, "It's not YOUR block! I was here first!"

And the second Elmo yells, "I always work this corner and I'm sick of you horning in on my turf," and shoves the first Elmo again.

So the first Elmo says, "I'll work wherever I want!" and shoves the seconds Elmo back, and the little kid that was getting her picture taken starts crying.

Second Elmo takes a swing at First Elmo, who dodges it and shoves Second Elmo into the crowd that's gathered. They push him back on his feet and he comes back and punches First Elmo hard enough to take him off his feet.

Then First Elmo gets up and tackles Second Elmo back into the wall of people watching this spectacle, but instead of getting supported by the people, the people get knocked over too, so now the two Elmos are rolling around on the ground, people are trying to get out from under them, there are kids freaking out, and somehow their heads are staying on through all of this so I'd totally lost track of which Elmo was which.

Dave nudges me and says, "Do we wanna break this up?"

And this is really not my thing, but it was really starting to get out of hand and the kids looked like they were going to be scarred for life as it was, so I said, "Yeah, might as well."

So we jumped in and started pulling the Elmos off each other, and they kept trying to get passed us and attack each other other again but Dave was having way more luck than I was, because while I'm am an incredible fighter and able to take down guys twice my size, I'm not exactly physically imposing. So Dave is holding his Elmo back fairly easily, but I'm having to put everything I've got into it while they're still screaming at each other.

So Dave yells, "Well, you wanted excitement!"(oh yeah, that's why we went there, I was talking about how boring patrols had been lately.)

And I yell back, "This wasn't what I had in mind!"

Finally I get sick of trying to hold this guy back and just kneed him in the crotch. It kinda worked, but I guess the suit was padding stuff so he didn't collapse like I'm used to, but it did take the fight out of him. I kicked his legs out from under him and dropped him on his ass just to make sure though.

The crowed cheered me for that. Don't know why. But it was kinda fun. Couldn't help smiling at it, but I did my bet to keep it to a minimum.

But then people started trying to take pictures with us.

This one guy was obviously drunk and put his arm around my shoulder. I said, "On the count of three you're going to lose your hand." He didn't move on one, his friend was still trying to get us in frame, but he ran for it on two, which was when I pulled one of my knives out.

Dave was going with it, which was a mistake. I don't know how he expected to get out of that once he started. So while he was posing for pictures I left. I didn't go far, just far enough to not be part of it. I watched from a doorway while he did his "friendly neighborhood super-hero" thing. I don't even know if they knew he was the real thing or not. It annoyed the crap out of me at first, but it was kinda cute. Kind of reminded me of why I like him. That he really is a nice guy.

Wanted to jump him the rest of the night.


	106. Chapter 106

_**Mako's Message: **Okay, so this is short, I realize that, but just trust me on this one. I'm going somewhere with this, really. This almost didn't happen and was inspired by a webcomic whose name I can't remember so if it seems familiar... yeah, that's where this came from. But like I said, I decided to use this because it's a great lead in to what's coming up.  
_

* * *

This guy came up to me in the hall at lunch and actually started hitting on me.

He said, "I'd seen you around but I thought you were like, twelve or something, but my brother has classes with you now so I guess I was wrong. But that's cool, short girls are cuter."

I was thinking, "What the fuck? Seriously?" and I said to him, "I AM twelve." still not able to believe he was doing this.

So _then_ he says, "Ah, so those rumors were true."

And I glared at him and said, "No. They weren't. There's nothing going on between me and Dave."

And the guy's danger sense must be completely non-existent because then he says, "Ah, so you're single then?"

I couldn't believe the asshole! I said, "Did you miss the part where I'm twelve?"

And then he just, literally, waves it off and says, "You're in high school, that's good enough for me."

I was trying so hard not kill this guy that I was shaking, and then you do know what this sleaze does? He _runs his hand up my arm_ and says, "So, you want to go out to the bleachers and I'll show you how high-school girls have fun?"

And that was it. I grabbed his wrist, twisted it almost to the breaking point and punched him right in the face. His nose kind of exploded. It was awesome. Half his face and his whole shirt was drenched in blood in about five seconds. Marty pulled me off of him before I could do any more damage to him though.

He dragged me halfway down the hall and made me promise not to hit him anymore before he'd let me go.

Half the people who saw what happened were laughing their asses off, and I heard someone say, "Yeah, no one is touching that girl and living." So getting detention for a week may be the best thing to happen to me in awhile.

Cameron and Tashaya were not pleased though. Actually, they were pissed. Turns out Cameron is the "cold fury" type and she just stood there glaring at me like she wanted to snap my neck. It was Tashaya that screamed at me for a solid ten minutes. Apparently my not being able be there for the first game of the year is a big deal.

But whatever. By smashing that creeps face in I think I may have put those rumors about me and Dave to rest. We're(Dave, Marty, Todd, Angela, and Jessi) all going to go out tonight to celebrate. I don't think the boys have met the girls more than a couple times so it should be fun to have everybody out together.

Of course, that's assuming Marcus let's me go out... He's gonna be pissed.


	107. Chapter 107

_**Mako's Message:**_ _Okay, so, literally everyone who reviewed chapter 105 asked for this(or at least didn't speak against it)__ so here it is. Before I let you read this(Seriously. no skipping this.)_ _I need to warn you, if you were bothered by_ _t "sex scenes" just skip this chapter. Not joking. It's way worse._ _If you enjoyed those scenes__... read this in private. Like, somewhere you won't be embarrassed if you end up squirming around(in a good way) in your seat. And for the people in the first group, if you read this, you'll be squirming too, but not in a good way_.

_That said, enjoy. Or don't. Praise me or give me hell. Whatever you think is appropriate_.

_See you tomorrow._

* * *

Okay, so, tonight was awesome.

Yeah, Marcus was pissed, but when he heard what happened from me and Marty he settled for just lecturing me on appropriate force(for a half hour). Like how a kick in the balls would have done the job. And how if I hadn't kept trying to hit him after I'd broken his nose I might not have gotten detention at all. But after that he left me to go out with my friends and do whatever.

When they picked me up, Jessi gave me a big hug and said I was her hero for what I did. Angela told me that people were placing bets on how many guys I was going to destroy before I went out with someone. Marty said he had money on three. Todd said he couldn't believe someone did that after everything that happened to Dave. Dave just kept looking over at me and then laughing to himself.

We went out to a Dave and Busters and spent the night playing games and eating nachos and just having a blast. But that wasn't the best part of the night.

The best part was that Dave dropped me off last and it was after Marcus left for work, so I asked him if he wanted to come in and watch some late night TV. He wasn't going to, but I said Ferguson was going to come on in twenty minutes and that changed his mind.

So we sat down on the couch and I pulled my legs up and nuzzled my way under his arm while he turned on Letterman.

He started doing that thing where he strokes my hair and I pressed myself into him even more. He looked down at me and smiled and then he asked, "Why do you like doing this?"

And I lifted up my head to look at him and said, "Does it bother you?"

And he moved his arm down to my waist and said, "No. It-" and he paused for a minute then said, "It's kind of nice."

And then I said, "I think it's nice too. I like being close to you." And then I thought, "what the hell?" and said, "I'd like to kiss you."

And he just sorta laughed and said, "Since when do you not do something you want to do?"

So I looked at him for a moment and sorta crawled up him so we were eye to eye and he was looking at me like I was being funny and I reached up and ran my fingers across his lips and he looked like he was trying really hard not to laugh, but I didn't care. I was grinning like and idiot and I loved that I was getting to do this and then I decided I was going to do it so I slid my hands to the sides of his face and leaned in and kissed him.

And he kissed me back.

So I didn't stop.

I slid my hands back through his hair and wrapped my arms around his neck as he wrapped his around my waist. I kept pressing into him until we toppled over and I was laying on top of him. We laughed about it and his hands slid down across my ass. I pressed into his hands and started kissing him again and nibbled at his lip.

Then he mumbled, "Maybe we should stop."

And I just nuzzled into his face and said, "Nn-mm"

He said, "You sure?" and squeezed my ass.

I pressed my hips into him and said, "Mm-hmm

He nuzzled back into my face and said, "What do you want?"

I said, "You," and he slid his hands up my ass then down my pants as he nipped at my ear. I couldn't help moaning as he squeezed my ass but I tried not to pull away from his lips since it felt really nice but it tickled so~o much.

I slid my hands under his shirt and started lifting it up and kissing his chest and neck and then he pulled it all the way off. Then he put his hands on my legs and started sliding them up towards my waist, but he didn't stop there. He kept going till his hands were running across my stomach but didn't do anything else, so I sat up and held my arms over my head.

He didn't seem to need anything else because he lifted my shirt up and off leaving me in just my bra and jeans. I felt stupid feeling nervous all of a sudden, but I couldn't help it. I chewed on my lip as his eyes ran over my body then I finally couldn't take it anymore and I said, "What do you think?"

And he said, "I think you look great, you know that." as he ran his fingers across my back.

I smiled and I couldn't help grinding my hips against him, and that's when I felt him pressing against me. My grin just got wider as I bucked my hips against his dick.

He ran his hands all across my hips, ass and stomach, but even though he'd get really really close he'd never touch my boobs and it was driving me crazy and I kept rubbing myself against him harder and harder. Then he said, "That'd feel better if you weren't wearing pants."

I immediately started taking them off and wondered why I hadn't thought of something so obvious. He helped me slide them off and then when I settled back down on him in just my undies it did feel so much better. I didn't even think about kissing him anymore and just focused on pressing myself into him as hard as I could and the feel of his hands on my hips helping me along. I tried to move his hands up to my boobs but I just couldn't seem to get his hands up that high before I had to let go so I just touched them myself.

I started having trouble breathing, I just couldn't seem to get a lungful of air and I was gasping more than breathing and wasn't even paying attention to what Dave was doing and then finally I came.

And then I woke up.

My face was pressed into Dave's chest, the TV was showing an infomercial, I was straddling his leg, we both still had all our clothes on, and I my undies were completely soaked. I got up and went up to my room to change and I tried to get myself off again while it was all still fresh in my mind but everything was too sensitive and I couldn't bear to touch anything

And the best part of all that is that I no matter how many times I go over it I cannot figure out when the fuck I fell asleep. Well, before clothes started coming off obviously, but it all felt so real. I think I kissed him at least. My lips kinda feel like they did when I kissed him on Christmas but I just don't know!

But I do know I can get him now. It doesn't matter when I fell asleep, he wouldn't have let any of that happen if he wasn't enjoying it. I just have to push a little more.


	108. Chapter 108

_**Mako's Message: **I'm sorry I haven't responded to any reviews for the last...two chapters. I've been very short on time and battery life for my computer. But tomorrow I should be able to get to responding to all your wonderful, amazing, and encouraging reviews._

_Also, this chapter is short. I know. But this is just how this story is wirten and when you read it I think you'll understand why it's so short. Thank you for your patience. _

* * *

I'm so fucking stupid. I let everything go to my head. Him picking me over Katie. Him letting me sit in his lap and snuggle up with him. Sharing a bed after a hard patrol. That stupid, stupid fucking dream. I really thought I had a chance. I thought he might actually like me the way I like him.

But when I went over there this morning SHE was there. Riley. She spent the night at his house. His dad opened the door and I could see straight into the kitchen and there she was, sitting at the table eating cereal. Everything else on my mind, everything else in the WORLD just fell away and the only thing on my mind, the only thing I could SAY was "What is she doing here?"

I don't remember what his dad said, but she looked up and saw me and smiled and waved and said "Hey, Mindy!"

And then Dave came down the stairs and I pointed at her and said, "What is she doing here?"

And he just looked at Riley like he didn't understand the question and said, "Riley? She called last night and said because her roommate had friends over and was being too noisy for her to study, so she asked if she could come over and she ended up spending the night."

Yeah. Sure. She just came over to study. And I'm just sure they didn't spend the night fucking like rabbit.

And I didn't know what to do. I wanted to scream. Hit him. Her. I wanted to cry.

I think I said something about Jessi having a crisis and that I needed to go and just went home and cried on the couch like a little girl. Cause that's what I am. A little girl with no hope of competing with the perfect woman.


	109. Chapter 109

_**Mako's Message: **Short short short. This is the icing on the cake, so to speak, of this four chapter combo. So sorry, I won't be updating again tomorrow. Be nice to make it a clean sweep, but I don't have anything left._

_That said, I'll be taking a, hopefully, short break from this story. I have a number of other stories that need my attention, so I'll be focusing on them for the next week or two. Or until I update all the stories I need to. Whichever comes first._

_So, hope you've all enjoyed this little chapter blitz/4-hit-combo and I'll see you around!  
_

* * *

So, I haven't hit anyone. I mean, I haven't hit Dave or Riley.

Dave did have to pull me off of this purse snatcher I was kicking the crap out of though. First real action we've seen in weeks. Even our request list hadn't gotten any hits. It was like fun and adventure was avoiding us.

But, Dave took me to that diner that offers discounts to costumed heroes to let me cool off or something. It only made things worse though. There was this hero I recognized from the registry, Guardian Angel, who pretty much only deals with helping the homeless and stuff. He kept looking at her. She was like, Riley Lite or something. Long blond hair, though hers was straight and Riley's is kinda curly, and she was wearing this black toga thing that was showing off more skin that she should be, nice figure, though not as big in the chest as Riley, and she had these big beautiful wings on. They were so realistic I was convinced they'd actually move now and then. But yeah, Dave kept looking at her, even while he was trying to talk to me about what was bothering me.

I kept telling him nothing was wrong, but he didn't believe me. He started to say something a couple times, but whatever it was he kept it to himself.

He did try a little harder than usual to find some trouble, which was nice, but it doesn't change the fact that Dave is not interested in skinny little girls with no tits. I don't know what I'm going to do. If I have to wait until I grow up for him to notice me I think I'll lose my mind. And him. If not to Riley than to someone else.

This fucking sucks deep wang.

* * *

_**This shouldn't be in italics anymore.**_


	110. Chapter 110

_**Mako's Message:** Okay, break's over. Not sure how much good it did me as I got maybe...a tenth of the wrtting I wanted to get__ done done. But I did get to do some serious thinking and planning done. Not all for this fic I assure you. in fact, my "big LMI fic" finally has a title so hopefully I can get that to you soon._

_As for this chapter, it's not that long, but it's definitely longer than the last...ten or so, and I like it. Hopefully you all will as well. _

_Oh, and to all the new readers I seem to have picked up these past two weeks,_ _ten more chapters until the next bonus._

* * *

So.

Dave hasn't spent the night with Riley again, as far as I know. But he has been going out with her after work every night we don't go out. Which has been more often than I'd like considering cheerleading is taking up more of my time and energy than I expected. It's not all that intense, it's just seriously cutting into my afternoon naps so we've had to cut back on patrols.

It has done wonders for clearing up Dave's rep though. Even if I hadn't broken that douche's nose I'm pretty sure a lot of the guys would be easing up on him since I've caught a few of them checking me out. It's funny because you can tell they're trying to remind myself that I'm only 12 while they're ogling my legs.

Doesn't do me any good though, since the only guy I really want is the one guy that's not looking. And not only is he not looking, I think I caught him about to go all "over protective big brother" on a couple of them. Which is totally NOT the way I want him thinking about me. I wish I could convince myself it was because he's jealous, but that's kind of hard when Riley is with him and looks like she's ready to smack the kid for whatever he said to his friends as well.

Angela is getting a fair bit of attention too, but she's eating it up. She flirts so shamelessly it's almost disgusting, but at the same time she's hasn't said anything that might make someone think she'll actually DO anything with them, Not that I know of at least. And I don't think anyone will be stupid enough to push the issue since the whole school knows we're best friends.

But all that, cheerleading, school, patrol, still isn't enough to keep my mind off of the fact that Dave _was _single, and now he's not. Especially when I'm sitting at home and he's out with her. And the worst part is that I actually _like_ her! She's so much cooler than Katie was and I can't imagine why he'd break up with her and she's actually been after _him_ for so long I can't see her breaking up with him either. So that just leaves me sitting at home pulling my hair out trying to figure out what I'm going to do.

Dave isn't interested in me like that. I can tell. I'm just not his type. He likes the stereotypical leggy, busty, blond. If it wasn't so depressing it'd be disgusting. The only thing I have going for me is that my hair is similar to Riley's. So, how is 12-year-old me supposed to compete with 20-something Riley?

No. Fucking. Idea.

It's seriously driving me nuts. I don't have a Mom to talk to about this stuff, my friends wouldn't be any help even if I could talk to them, and Marcus isn't even an option. Uncle John would probably be willing to talk to me, but that'd just be too fucking weird even if he could help. If this was about any other boy I could talk to Riley, but that's not going to happen. I don't care how much "encouragement" she gave me ( the mistletoe, telling me to step my game up and snag him before she started "playing for real",) she's not going to give me advice on how to steal her boyfriend. This isn't bizarro world.

I did have one option though.

White Mage.

It seemed like a good idea at least. Hang back after a Justice Forever meeting, tell her I wanted to speak with her privately. She'd do it. Why wouldn't she? I'm fucking Hit Girl!

So I did.

And she did.

And Dave and Uncle John left us alone to talk without any problems.

And that's when things got awkward.

She was standing there, obviously expecting me to talk to her about something to do with "work" and I'm suddenly being struck by what a stupid idea it was to try and confide in someone who is effectively a stranger (When Uncle John reformed Justice Forever he was careful to make sure we don't let too much of our personal lives be known to each other since it's so much more dangerous than it was. He's the only one who knows how to contact all of us.).

So finally I tell her I need her advice. On boys.

She was shocked, I could tell, but she agreed to help me out, so I told her how I wanted Kick-Ass, and how he and his last girlfriend had broken up, and about his new girlfriend. When I finished she said, "Oh, sweetie," and I think she was going to try to hug me before she thought better of it. Then she asked me if she could look at my face. I told her I wasn't going to take my mask off, but she said that was fine as long as she could get a good look at me.

So she looked at me.

And then she smiled at me and said, "You're very pretty." I was expecting a "but you're still young" or something, instead I got, "And I'm sure you'll be even more beautiful when you get older." She sat down on the table and said, "You've certainly got the odds stacked against you though, but then, you're no stranger to that are you?"

I couldn't help grinning when she said that.

Then she sighed and said, "I don't know what to tell you though. You are young and that'd probably be enough to put him off dating you even if he hadn't gone through all that 'pedo' crap. His girlfriend sounds pretty hot too," she smirked at me, "Assuming you're not just looking at her with jealousy tinted glasses." Ha. Ha. "And the truth of it is, he may like you, maybe even love you if you're as close as you say...but he may just not be attracted to you. Not see you as someone he can have a romantic, let alone physical, relationship with. I think you're just going to have to wait a few years and try to snatch him up when he and this other girl break up." then she shrugged and added, "Maybe if you're lucky he'll discover that you're the only girl for him and you're destined to be together no matter the odds!" She finished in such a ridiculously sappy, over the top, and dramatic pose I wasn't surprised at all when she burst out laughing and saying, "I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I just couldn't resist, don't hurt me."

Then she was all business again, "Maybe you could try dating someone your own age. Seeing you with a boyfriend might help him see you as a potential girlfriend. Or you might discover that what you're feeling for Kick-Ass is just hormones and you'll make some 13-year-old boy exceptionally lucky."

I told her I didn't think that was going to happen. What Dave and I have is special. I can't even imagine having the same interest in just some boy.

Still, she did have a point. If Dave isn't into me like that all it could take to change that is a few months, a couple inches, and another cup size.

I don't know about dating another boy just to try and make Dave jealous though. It seems kind of cruel. I mean, I can be cruel, sadistic even, and creative about it too(The car crusher was my idea. And one of my better ones if I do say so myself.), but those guys deserved it. This'd be a whole different thing. I'd be hurting someone for my own personal benefit. I'd be acting like one of _them_.

And that made me think of Dillon.

I said I was going to spend more time with him, since he didn't seem to have many friends if he had any at all, and then we were hanging out all summer and then as soon as school started we'd just kind of abandoned him, but aside from texting him more often I haven't done anything with him. We even forgot to invite him along for our Dave and Buster's celebration.

Which is how I ended up going out with Dillon, alone, on a seriously-this-isn't-a-date to Central Park. He seemed kind of impressed that I was allowed to go all the way out there by myself. If he only knew.

He brought his camera with him and, after making it clear that these photos would be for his private use only or he'd never hold a camera again, I posed for some photos for him. We walked all around the park, and he had me pose in all sort of places; by the lakes, on the bridges, the fountains, with statues, under the trees, on the playground, the rocks. He ended up taking a few dozen pictures of me, but I didn't mind. I'm pretty sure I can trust him to keep his word. And it made me feel...I don't know, _pretty_, I guess. I've been called "cute" and "adorable" before, and with Dave I've been trying for "hot" or "sexy", but until White Mage said it, I'd never been "pretty". I didn't believe her, I thought she was just trying to be encouraging, but that day it felt like Dillon was turning me into art. It was nice.

Of course, that just made me feel worse about even considering to date him just to try and get Dave's attention. He's nice, I like Dillon, but I just don't feel any interest in him beyond being a friend.

So I still don't know what I'm going to do about Dave. With everything he's been through pushing too hard might just freak him out and make him push me away, but if I just sit and wait for him to notice me and break up with Riley I could end up waiting forever(assuming I don't lose mind).

Fuck fucking fuckity fucking fucker fuck.

Fuck.


	111. Chapter 111

_**Mako's Message: **__I should have built up to this better. I know this. I just couldn't figure out how to build this up properly while still keeping him mysterious, and of course other mini-plots got in the way. But I've been looking forward to writing this scene for a long time now so I hope you all enjoy it even if it doesn't have the impact I want it to. And I do plan to explain some, if not all, of this in a later chapter. _

_Here's a hint though. The soundtrack for this chapter is _Voices_ by _Disturbed.

_P.S.- I reread this before I uploaded it, and after about a half hour of debating if it threw off the tone I was going for, I threw in about a paragraph's worth of description of the guy. Hope it works._

* * *

Never before, in all of my life, has what I do left me feeling so…disturbed.

The police found that serial killer hiding out in a warehouse. Probably would have found him faster but the guy really did it right. Never killed in the same place twice, killed right next to his hideout as often as he killed across the city. No pattern. He didn't even stick to the city. But then someone reported someone slipping in and out of the warehouse and when the investigating officers were killed they swarmed the place.

It didn't take Dave and I long to hear about it and we were suited up and waiting on the sidelines just in time to see the SWAT team go in.

The screams started not long after that.

I called Marcus and asked him if he could open a hole in the perimeter for us to get in. He refused of course. He said, "This is what the SWAT team is for!"

I told him we both knew they weren't coming back out.

He said that he wasn't going to let the two of us go into a situation so bad a SWAT team couldn't handle it. That that was what they did.

I told him that this was what WE did.

There silence from him for a moment. During which we heard another scream.

Then he said, "I'll see what I can do," and hung up.

A few minutes later he said he'd passed orders to the officers on the south side to switch with the ones on the north without sending anyone to cover for them. It'd take them about five minutes to have someone covering that side so if we were going to go in we'd need to move fast.

We got in with plenty of time to spare.

Dave seemed nervous, but then so was I. Whoever this guy was, he was good. He'd taken out the entire SWAT team and none of the bodies we found had been shot. Most were either stabbed or strangled. We even found one strung up from the ceiling. It was fucking creepy. It was like we'd walked into a Predator movie. All that was missing was for the bodies to be skinned.

We finally found him on the top floor by one of the windows, looking down on the police blockade.

I don't know what made me hesitate in shooting him. It would have made my life so much simpler. I guess there was something about facing somebody who was this capable. Probably couldn't have done it anyway. He knew we there. If I'd tried I bet he would've known and been gone before I could aim.

Without even looking at us he said, "I've been wondering if I'd face you. Kinda hoping I would. I bet you're real strong."

The floor was mostly open space and didn't have much in the way of cover except for the support pillars and everything told us he didn't have a gun so we stepped out into the open and moved to take him into custody. I really should have just shot him. I'm still trying to figure out why I didn't. I guess I figured the cops would want to handle to be able to take care of him themselves. Or maybe that Marcus would let us help more if we brought him in alive. But if I'd known how much trouble he was going to be I'd have tried no matter how slim I thought my chances of hitting him were, or how pissed I thought Marcus would be.

Dave and I fanned out and I said, "Alright, we can do this the easy way, or the hard way."

He turned his head towards us then, just enough for me to be able to see that he was smiling…sort of, He was looking at the floor if his eyes were even open and he said, "No. There's only one way we can do this."

And then he whirled on us and sent a knife at each of us with one throw.

I dodged it easily, Dave cut it a little closer but it still missed him. I pulled my gun and fired back at him, but all I hit was the wall and floor. He was just too fast for me to draw a bead on him. He also wasn't a very big target. He was shorter than Dave and really thin. I probably could have seen his ribs if I'd been able to look. It was weird though even though he was so thin he he was really well muscled. I think that's what they mean when they say someone is "wirey" or when they say muscles are "ropey" or "knotted" I don't know. I've never really understood things like that. Having to dodge his knives at the same time didn't make things any easier, and he was wearing this long coat that kept fluttering around behind him and throwing off my aim.

When I ran out of ammo I switched to my throwing knives but all that accomplished was getting them thrown back at me. He was focused on me, but he always managed to keep out of Dave's reach.

Eventually we managed to keep him from picking up any of his knives long enough that he ran out. Dave ran in to try and tackle him, hurling the sheathe to his baton/swords at him as a distraction since we'd both pretty much given up on being able to hit this guy from a distance, and managed take the guy to the floor, but he kicked Dave off of him without any problems and took the unsheathed blade from him while he was at it.

I'd run in with my swords drawn, but the bastard was just too damn fast. Before I could strike he spun in low and back kicked me under the chin taking me off my feet and knocking me back. I don't know what happened then, I couldn't see anything but stars, but I guess Dave got into with him because next thing I know I hear Dave scream and I see him on the floor with his own knife through his leg.

The guy had walked over to pick up one of his knives and I rushed in again. His back was too me and He was kinda hunched over like Dave had managed to injure him so I had reason to hope this would go better than the last time… and it did. Sorta. He was too slow this time and he turned just in time for me to impale him through the heart with both swords

But he didn't care.

I knocked him back but he didn't even lose his footing. He coughed blood on me even as he grinned at me and grabbed both my wrists with one hand. I tried to pull away, but even impaled on both swords, right through his heart( and I can't imagine I missed), his grip on me was too strong. I didn't even try to hold on to my swords, I just tried to pull away. He was bleeding all over me but it didn't make a difference. He just lifted up one of the knives and said, "At least I'll get you."

And then the left half of his face exploded.

I still don't remember hearing the gunshot.

But his grip finally went limp and he collapsed to the floor. I looked over at Dave and he was on one knee with a gun pointed at him. It took me a minute to recognize it as the gun I'd given him for Christmas. He was breathing heavy and he looked pretty pale but he didn't seem to be bleeding all that much.

Then the guy coughed.

I looked down at him, and even though he'd lost an eye and most of his face, all the important parts of his head were still there. He looked up at me with his one eye and coughed up a big glob of blood before managing to smile and say, "Still doesn't hurt."

Then he said, "Don't let me die. I didn't finish."

And then his eye went wide as the pupil contracted into a pin-point and he screamed. He screamed like I've never heard anyone scream. Daddy didn't scream like that when he was burning to death. The guy in the car crusher didn't scream like that. It was the most horrible sound I've ever heard.

I was actually frozen, staring at him.

Dave hobbled over to me and asked if I was okay.

I don't remember answering.

I don't remember calling Marcus to come get the body, or finding a room to hide in, or Marcus coming in to see if I was okay before calling the room clear, or pouring disinfectant over Dave's wound before helping him bandage it up. But that's what Dave said I did.

I don't know what it was that affected me like that; his scream, him taking so long to die, his determination to kill me…Maybe it was everything. I don't know. But something about that was just wrong. Something was really wrong with him…and I think that's what scared me so much.

Marcus has to work late dealing with everything that went on today so Dave said he'd stay with me tonight. I don't know if I'll be able to sleep, but it'll still be nice having here.


	112. Chapter 112

_**Mako's Message: **Sometimes you have to overlook things for the sake of plot. Usually these are "Why didn't he just shoot him?" moments, but in this case...well, if you can't tell what I'm talking about I'm not going to tell you._

_Anyway, this chapter is already half a day late so let's skip the jibber-jabber and get on with it, eh?_

* * *

For once in my life I'm glad I'm on the cheerleading team.

Yeah, I know, "Mindy's GLAD she's on the cheerleading team? WHAAAAAT?" That was the first thing I said to myself when I first had the thought, but it's really given me something to keep my mind OFF of the other night. And it keeps me busy since I haven't really felt up to going out these past few nights. It's still got me freaked out. I mean, people don't just keep fighting while they're impaled, and especially not when they're impaled through the heart. He should have died and hit the floor before he could say, "My god! I have been stabbed!"

Okay, so I've heard about people who fell and impaled themselves through the heart on rebar or a fence post or something and lived to talk about it, but those people don't grab people and try to stab them in the face while they're impaled. Even if my swords were stopping him from bleeding out and not just cutting a bigger hole in him, he still should have gone into shock and collapsed.

But he didn't.

And after all that he got shot in the face and he _kept talking_. That's not right. Even if he hadn't been mortally wounded before that, and the face shooting didn't kill him, he should have been in too much pain to THINK.

Well, one good thing that's come of it is that I've gotten a lot of Dave time, not even counting the night I spent curled up in his arms.

Marcus didn't even seem to mind finding Dave with me in his arms on my bed in the morning. The fact that we were dressed and on top of the covers probably helped. Of course, he also might have just been too tired to care. But Dave has actually been HOLDING me when I sit on his lap now. It's really nice.

But cuddling with Dave doesn't distract me from it like cheerleading does, since it also reminds me how close he came to dying as well. If he hadn't been so focused on me, he could have easily killed him instead of stabbing him in the leg.

But obviously it's not doing a good enough job since I still can't seem to get my mind off of it even though I almost got myself sent to the hospital again today.

See, we were working on our pyramid today, and I was at the top since I'm the smallest and I can get to the top easier than anyone else. Everything was fine at first, but of course trying to balance with people on your shoulders is hard, and even harder if you're standing on someone's shoulders as well, so eventually people started wobbling. And there was this one big wobble that made me have to quickly and drastically shift my balance so I wouldn't fall. Only my leg gave out on me again(The injury that just won't fucking go away) and I fell about fifteen feet. And of course since my leg wasn't supporting my weight I couldn't land ON my feet so I hit the ground and barely managed to avoid landing on my head and breaking my fucking neck.

Didn't manage to avoid the five cheerleaders that fell after me though.

Okay, not all of them fell _on_ me, but at least one did.

Cameron and Tashaya were pissed and terrified. Terrified that some collapsed could have put half the team out of commission, pissed that I hadn't mentioned my traitorous leg. Like they didn't come and ask me to join the team. But luckily there were no injuries to anyone so they turned their panic into a lecture on how much work we were going to have to put in if we were going to be ready for the big Homecoming Game.

Now that's an idea…

I wonder if…

No, I can't ask..

I could still…

Maybe…

I think I may have an idea that'll get me back in the game to win Dave's heart. I'm gonna have to ask around before I can start making any plans though. Hopefully this'll work out.


	113. Chapter 113

_**Mako's Message: **This chapter is short, but it's about a page longer than I'd intended it to be in the first place. I actually couldn't help going into "Extra" detail with this one. I guess you could say I TorontoBatFan'd it. :P_

_Anyway, if this chapter doesn't explain everything to your satisfaction, that's okay. It's not supposed to. Hope you enjoy it though. _

_And now that this is wrapped up, I think I can start in on the next two plot lines._

* * *

His name was Nathan Bush and he was sixteen years old. That's only four years older than me, and two younger than Dave.

He'd been committed to a mental hospital when he was fourteen after an insanity verdict in a murder trial against him despite him pleading guilty. Apparently when the judge asked him why he killed the man he'd started talking about voices in his head and that killing someone was the only way he'd been able to get them to stop and even though he'd started off rationally enough, by the time he was done he was practically raving and the judge ordered his mental health evaluated. A month later he was locked up in a padded cell.

The staff reported that he was well behaved, and even polite the first first few days, but he started declining pretty quickly and a week or so later they'd had to isolate after he'd attacked some other inmates/patients. within a month he had to be restrained at all times. The straight jacket seemed to really set him off though, because after it went on he was a complete and utter raving lunatic. Literally. Whenever he was awake he'd scream about demons and harvesting souls and constantly struggled to get out of it. He talked in his sleep too, but nobody was able to understand a damn thing he said. They eventually had to stop treatment since he wasn't safe to be around even with the jacket on and he'd built up a tolerance to every sedative they had. Which isn't all that surprising since they kept him sedated all the fucking time. They even had to knock him out completely and feed him through an IV.

They figure that's how he escaped, finally built up enough of a tolerance to the drugs that he was able to jump the guy who put the tube in and kill him and the guard. I don't know how. I can come up with some ways to kill a guy without using my hands or arms, but from the sound of it this guy would have had leg restraints and shit on too.

The weird thing is that the night he escaped was the first time in almost two years that he was quiet. The guards admitted they should have realized something was up when they didn't hear anything from him. And once they put a picture of him up, a bunch of people said that they'd seen him all the time couldn't believe he was a total psycho. A guy who worked at this diner near the warehouse he was holing up in said he came in pretty regularly and he figure the kid was just a runaway or something.

I can understand that. They guy didn't seem crazy when we fought him. Right up until the last bit of it. It's actually kind of hard for me to imagine that guy being so wild and uncontrolled that he had to be in a straight jacket.

Oh, and the other problem they had with him was that he had a condition called Congenital Analgesia" which stopped him from feeling any pain. He'd actually injured himself pretty badly a few times fighting with the orderlies. I guess that explains why he didn't collapse when I impaled him (Still fucking weird and creepy though). It was one of the bigger reasons they'd resorted to keeping him sedated all the time.

Adding a tranquillizer gun to our arsenal might not be a bad idea...

Of course, his family was pissed about his identity being made public. They tried everything they could to keep his name and face out of the news. A murder spree this big couldn't be ignored though. They even reported on his funeral. And get this his girl(ex)girlfriend attended.

It's weird thinking of that guy as having a girlfriend, but then he did seem relatively normal so who knows?

It feels weird to say this, but the family actually said they didn't have a grudge against whoever killed him and I'm glad. When I started reading about them I was thinking they were going to start screaming for blood or something, but they just said they were sad that that's what it came too.

I really don't know what to make of all this. On the one hand it explains a lot, but on the other it doesn't. And it's weird reading about the family of somebody I killed and them mourning his death. I mean, I've killed lots of loser assholes and didn't feel bad about it, but this one is really sticking with me. Maybe it's because this guy was actually out of his mind and not actually choosing to do this. I don't know. He said that there was only way way we could do it, and even mortally wounded he kept fighting so I guess he was right. And maybe killing him was a mercy since he at least SEEMED sane in the end instead of acting like a gibbering madman.

This whole thing is fucking weird and I don't like it.


	114. Chapter 114

_**Mako's Message:** So...yeah. This chapter...happened. And it amuses me. And if you don't like this one I really don't care because I think it's hilarious and I actually had to tone it back a bit in places. But if you do like it, thanks in advance._

_And yes, this _was_ necessary if you can't tell._

* * *

It's kinda nice when things work out for you. Here I was trying to figure out what I was going to do for a date to homecoming without resorting to Dillon, when he comes up and asks me himself. But no, I didn't take advantage of him, he started off by saying, "I know you don't want to date me, and I know you don't want me to think you want to date me so please don't get mad, but will you take me to Homecoming?"

So, I was like, "Wait, what? Seriously?"

And he started talking about how he's always getting picked on and teased for being short(Which I never really noticed since he's a bit taller than me, but then I remembered he's a year older than me and I'm short for my age anyway.) and how going to Homecoming would make him seem so much cooler even if it was with a girl who should be a hear behind him. He cringed when he said that, like I was going to hit him. But then, he doesn't even realize how awesome I really am. If he thinks going to Homecoming will make him cool, imagine how impressed he'd be knowing he was asking Hit Girl. His classmates would probably fall down and worship him.

Yeah, not joking.

That's something I missed hearing about since I'm in high school now...and am practically a social outcast. Apparently I've become quite popular with middle-school boys. In costume at least. Might be nice if I actually gave a shit. ...actually no it'd just be frustrating because I couldn't tell people who I was to make use of my fame. Guess it's a good thing then that all the boys my age are fucking idiots.

Except Dillon. He's nice.

Doesn't help that the guy I want can't seem to look at me the way I want him too. We wouldn't even have to be a couple as Dave and Mindy. As long as he didn't date anyone else I wouldn't mind if we had to sneak around. We do it all the time anyway. We'd just be adding sex. And how could he possibly object to that! It'd be like objecting to extra hot fudge on your sundae.

Oh yeah. Riley.

Why'd he have to turn into a stud? If he was still just a geek and invisible to girls it'd be so much easier.

Anyway, Dillon asked me if I could take him to the dance, and of course I agreed because if I went by myself that'd just make me look pathetic and I don't want Dave's pity, I want him drooling over me. Like in those old Loony Toon cartoons.

So, I have a date, now I just need a dress...

That's going to be all kinds of hell isn't it?


	115. Chapter 115

_**Mako's Message:** I'm really sorry about the delay of this chapter. The last...week...and a half has been...really, really bad and I've been sick all weekend. But I finally sat down and banged this out so here it is._

_I got nothing else so enjoy!  
_

* * *

Tonight was great. We ran into some cunts and they're always good for a fun night. This group decided to take over a nice restaurant for the night. Well, "taking over" might be over stating it a bit. They probably just went in there to terrorize people and steal some food.

There were only six of them that we could see at first, but they were taking up the entire floor. There were a couple harassing a waitress, and another with his feet on the table reading a menu, and three others were playing darts with the flatware and the paintings. There were people cowering in some of the booths, but it looked like everybody who could get out had already gotten out. We didn't hear any sirens though so nobody had called the police yet.

There weren't that many of them, but after the disaster at the bar we promised ourselves we weren't going to rush into shit like that anymore. So Dave was going to wait a minute then go in through the front while I went around and came in through the back. Dave thought it'd be better for me to go in the front since I was the better fighter and people are more scared of me so I'd hold their attention better, but I reminded him that stealth really wasn't his thing and that he was a big boy and he could handle six cunts by himself. Then I added, "But if you think the little girl should handle it you can sneak in the back."

He shoved me and

said, "Go fuck off round the back."

I flipped him off as I went around the building.

The back door was locked, and it wasn't the sort of door you can pick, or kick in, so while I was keeping the roof vents as an option, I decided to knock first.

I waited by the side of the door holding my staff like a pool que and, just like I thought, there was a cunt in the back watching the cooks. He opened the door and peaked out with a knife ready to stab someone, but I jabbed him in the face before he even saw me. It was a perfect hit right to his temple and the guy dropped like a bull hit with a captive bolt pistol.

I shushed the cooks and cuffed the guy then headed out to the dinning room.

Dave was just making his entrance, and the cunts seemed to think they could take him since they were all on their feet and closing in on him. They had no idea I was there, and I shushed the customers that saw me. I crept all the way up the table just behind them, pulled a chair out, climbed up on one of the tables and sat down.

Dave looked at me like, "What are you doing?"

I grinned at him and made a, "Go on." motion with my hand.

He gave me, "Are you serious?" look and I just nodded.

The guy closest to him noticed that Dave was looking past them, and started to turn to look. That was when Dave punched him.

Dave managed to more solid hits on them before they all jumped on him and it turned into a kind of a cluster fuck. It was actually kind of like those dust clouds of violence they use in cartoons. I could see people throwing punches and elbows and cries of pain but I couldn't really make out everything that was going on. But eventually Dave stood up and the cunts bleed and drooled on the floor.

Dave seemed like he didn't know if he should be pround of himself for taking them all on or pissed at me for making him. I solved his problem by smiling and holding my fist out and saying, "Knew you could do it."

He kinda laughed and fist bumped me. Then I turned and asked everybody in the room, "So, anybody call the cops yet?"

Dead silence.

I said, "Fuck, we gotta do everything in this town." and made a big show of pulling out my phone and dialing saying, "Nine. One. One." as I dialed. When they picked up I said, "Cunts at Pasta Piato" then hung up and said, "Not hard."

So we cuffed the cunts and left them on the floor for the cops.

As soon as we were away from prying eyes I jumped and Dave and said, "That is how you live up to your name!"

He laughed and said, "I still wouldn't have minded having your help," and he let me ride on his back for a little bit. As much as I liked it, it just couldn't risk anyone seeing me like that for more than a few seconds. It's be nice if he could do that with me out of costume.

So like I said, it was a good night. It was a nice change of pace from all the crazy going on in my "normal" life.

For example, Angela said that if I'm going to go to Homecoming then I should get my ears pierced. I liked the idea of it since it could help me look older so I said I would. But then she starts trying to talk me into letting HER do it for me. She said it'd save me money and that she'd already done Jessi's and even made her show me her piercings. And they did look okay, but I don't care if she holds it under a blow torch and cools it with bleach, there's no way I'm gonna let that crazy bitch stab me through the ear with a sewing needle. I thanked her for trying to save me the money, but I told her that I was going to have it done professionally.

She pouted about it but eventually let it go.

And Marcus has been staring at me like I'm going to sprout fangs and attack him in his sleep since I told him I was going to this dance. He probably thinks it's funny but it's really getting old.

Dress shopping wasn't as bad as I was expecting though. It just took all fucking day. And I didn't even get to make any choices until the end. I wanted something princessy(Yeah, I know, shut up. I just kept thinking of Cinderella.) but that got shot down almost immediately. I ended up sitting there while Angela argued with this sales girl named Elise. It was kind of funny because she seemed to be trying to hide her french accent but the more heated their arguing got the more it slipped out. I even caught her swearing in french while she was off looking for more dresses for me to try on. They must have tried half the store on me. The girl even stopped caring about the size of what they were making me try on sayign that they could just order it in my size(I'd made it clear that I didn't care about cost, just so long as I looked amazing). She kept trying strapless dress on me, but none of them really wanted to stay up. If I wore one I would have been tugging it up every ten minutes. I'd look like an idiot. Though, I suppose I could have used that strategically...(So Dave, what do you think of my dress? Oops!) But unless I make my move early and he immediately sweeps me off to his house to see me out of the dress completely...I don't think it'd be a good idea.

They finally found this dress that was just over one shoulder and had this sash that Elise insisted would enhance my "modest" bust. The skirt was short but kinda princessy at least. Angela seemed to think I should be wearing green but Elise insisted that I'd look good in a pale blue. I wanted purple or pink but they'd stopped listening to me hours before that. I picked the blue since it was closer to purple. Besides, green is Dave's color.

So, next weekend is shoes. They have to match the dress so that should be a shorter trip. Hopefully.


	116. Chapter 116

_**Mako's Message: **So... ya know what? Here's the chapter. Enjoy._

* * *

Dillon knocks at my door, he's wearing a black suit and carrying a corsage. I let him wait outside for a minute, just to build up the suspense. He shifts uncomfortably outside the door, looking around and tugging at his collar. When I've decided I've let him sweat enough I go and open the door. He has trouble keeping his jaw off the ground.

I don't say anything, I just smile as he stammers out a "H-h-hi" and finally recovers enough to hand me the corsage and says, "I bought this for you, I thought it would match your eyes."

I open the box and it's a dark blue flower. I hand it back to him and ask, "Would you pin it on for me?"

He gulps and just nods his head. His hands are shaking as he pins the flower to my dress and he sighs with relief when he manages to do it without stabbing himself or me. I smile at him and ask, "Shall we go?"

He nods and I walk across the yard to the car I hired for the night. I hear him say, "Wow," before he follows along.

We don't talk on the way to the school. He's too nervous to talk and I spend the time rehearsing everything I'm going to say and do in my head. Tonight is going to work. Dillon will get his respect, and I'll get my Dave.

When we pull up Dillon gets out first and opens the door for me. People are watching him curiously, wondering what he's doing here, and then I step out. Everyone who is standing around outside stares at us with wide eyes and open mouths. I smirk at them and offer my arm to Dillon who takes it and leads me inside.

Inside people react same way, only it takes longer for people to notice us in the crowd. I lead Dillon over to the punch and he fills a cup for each of us while I scan the crowd for Dave.

I finally spot him across the room next to Riley, who's wearing a too tight dress with her tits practically popping out and flirting with some other guy like a slut.

Dave looks at me and his eyes practically pop out of his head. I smile as he leaves Riley behind and walks over to me. He looks me up and down and shakes his head, "Wow…just, wow. You look amazing."

I look at the floor before looking up at him and smiling, "Thank you."

Riley finds her way over then, and looks at me, "Well, don't you look nice."

I can't resist the urge and say, "I know."

Music starts playing then, and I ask Dillon if he'd like to dance. He agrees immediately and takes my hand and leads me onto the dance floor. It's a slow dance so he puts his other hand on my waist and he looks like he's so excited he might jizz in his pants. I smile and raise my eyebrow at him as we glide around the dance floor. He blushes and looks away and I laugh. He looks back and he sees I'm not mad and he smiles again.

I see Dave, among other people, watching me. His eyes never leave me. I meet his eyes for a moment before looking back at Dillon.

We dance a few more times, and we talk a bit, always staying across the room from Dave, who watches me the entire time. He's not the only one watching me, but he's the only one I care about.

Later, when people start leaving Dave comes over. Riley doesn't notice because she's talking to three other guys. He smiles at me and asks, "Did you have fun?"

I nod and say, "It was nice of Dillon to take me."

He says, "I'm glad he did."

I ask, "You are?"

He nods and is suddenly nervous, "Would you like to go for a walk?"

I smile and say, "Sure," then tell Dillon where I'm going and follow Dave out of the building.

We walk across the grass in silence for a bit before he finally says, "You really do look incredible."

I grin and say, "Thank you." Then I add, "I wore it for you."

He stops and asks, "You did?"

I say, "I wanted you to finally notice me."

He smiles and says, "I've always noticed you."

I take a step closer to him, "I've wanted you to notice me for awhile."

He steps closer to me and says, "I didn't know you felt that way"

Close the remaining distance between us and say, "I do. I have for awhile," as I look up at him.

He looks down at me and opens his mouth but doesn't say anything.

I ask him, "Do you want to get out of here?" and run my hands around his waist.

He asks, "What about Dillon?"

I say, "He knows to go back with the car if I don't come back."

He gulps and asks, "What about Riley?" and he wraps his arms around me.

I tell him, "Fuck Riley."

He smiles and presses his nose into my hair and starts lightly kissing my forehead and says, "Why would I want to do that?" and his mouth moves down to my ear and he says, "When I could have you?"

Feeling his touch and his breath and finally hearing him say he wanted me is almost more than I can take, my legs are barely holding me up and my skin is covered in goosebumps. I say, "We should go to the safe house. We won't be interrupted there."

He says, "That's what I was thinking"

We get into his car and drive off. Dave keeps looking at me as he drives, and I keep toying with my skirt, not sure if I want to tease him by pulling it up to show more leg, or tease him by pulling it down and covering more skin.

When we finally get there it takes all the restraint we have not to race inside. Dave unlocks the door and I push through before it's even open and stand in the middle of the room, waiting for him to come get me. He puts the keys down on the counter and slowly pulls his jacket off and tosses it onto a chair before undoing his tie sending it after the jacket. Then he just stands there and stares as me as my heart is pounding in my chest and I don't know long I can stand here without jumping him.

Then just when I think I've reached my limit he bursts into motion and closes the distance between us in an instant, wrapping one arm around my waist and putting the other behind my head and pulling my lips to his. For a second I go limp and cling to his arms then I recover and leap onto him, wrapping my legs around his waist and my arms around his neck. His hand slides down and grabs my ass and feeling him touch me like that makes me completely lose my breath. Dave kisses my neck as I gasp for air. Finally I gasp out, "Bedroom," and he doesn't hesitate.

I let go of his neck and unzip my dress as he carries me into the bedroom and we continue our kiss.

When we reach the bed I pull my arms out and fall backwards onto it. Dave holds onto the dress letting me fall completely out of it. He looks at it for a second, then at me, and tosses it aside. I don't care. It's served its purpose.

I crawl backwards across the bed as Dave climbs onto it and crawls after me. He doesn't catch me until we reach the wall and he starts kissing me again and I start trying to unbutton his shirt. When I finally get it unbuttoned he seems torn between taking it off and kissing me. I want the shirt off him so I push him away just enough to pull it off of him.

I kiss his bare shoulders and chest while he kisses whatever parts of me he can reach.

He reaches behind me and unfastens my bra and I shrug out of it, and we pause for a second, enjoying the feel of out bare chests meeting for the first time before we start kissing again.

Soon he reaches a hand up and cups my breast and I reach down to start unbuckling his belt.

When I get it done he immediately starts pulling them down and I do the same with my panties and finally we're completely naked together. Nothing but skin on skin from head to toe and it feels so good I can't help but bite my lip. Dave looks like he's trying not to lose it right then and there.

Finally I spread my legs and he pushes into me and it hurts in all the right ways. He pounds away at me and I scream in pleasure.

We fuck two more times after that and spend the night curled up in each other's arms

In the morning I feel happier than I ever have, and Dave kisses me again as soon as he wakes up. We get dressed in our spare clothes and head home.

Dave decides to stop at Atomic Comics because he says he needs coffee. When we go in Marty and Todd spot us and call us over. When we sit down Marty asks, "So where did you two disappear to last night?"

Todd says, "Yeah. We looked for you after the dance but couldn't find you. Riley couldn't find you either."

Dave looks a little nervous but then looks at me and smiles. He turns to them and says, "Mindy and I are together now."

Marty and Todd are completely shocked. They say, "What? Really? I never thought you two…even with everything?"

Dave says, "Fuck'em."

Marty says, "You're a braver man than me dude."

I smile and put an arm around Dave and say, "I know."

After we leave Atomic Comics Riley spots us driving down the road and steps into the road and flags us down. When Dave steps out she says, "What the hell! Why'd you leave me at the dance like that!"

I open my door and stand up and look at her over the roof and says, "Cause he's with me now, so keep your hands off my man, bitch, or I'll break them."

Dave smiles and shrugs then gets back in the car and we drive off, leaving her standing there in shock.

When we get home, I ask Dave to come in with me. Marcus is eating lunch when I walk into the kitchen, leaving Dave in the hall, and I say, "Marcus, I want you to meet my boyfriend," and I tell Dave to come in.

Marcus drops his fork and after a moment of shock says, "Give me one reason why I shouldn't kill you. Or worse, arrest you."

And I say, "Because you love me."

And he starts to say something back, but stops, and after a minute says, "Damnit," and goes back to his lunch.

Dave says, "I guess we should go tell my Dad now."

Dave's dad is excited to hear the news. He says, "I always knew there was something special between you two."

We go upstairs to his room, planning to rest before going out that night, but we end up having sex again. It doesn't stop us from going out though. I can't decide if I want to act like a couple with him in costume though. I'd love to walk down the street as his girlfriend under any circumstances, but I also have Hit Girls reputation to think of, so I end up just sneaking kisses when we're alone.

Just when I'm worried that this otherwise perfect day will be ruined by a boring night, there's an explosion

Oh thank fucking god we finally found a pair of shoes. I swear to god I can't believe it actually took longer than dress shopping. I was really starting to run out of ideas for my story. What pisses me off even more is that we went to four different stores and when we(I say "we" but I really mean Angela, Jessi, and Angela's Mom) finally decided on a pair, it was from the FIRST STORE WE VISITED! Fucking hell. Ugh. The things I'm willing to do to get Dave.

Well, at least it wasn't a complete waste of time. That story should keep me entertained for awhile.

* * *

_**More Mako's Message:** So, if you didn't notice something was up before the "reveal" I'm both disappointed and insulted. I worked real hard to make this sound too good to be true, while at the same time making sure it didn't sound like my writing. But after the point where she started running out of ideas I let it devolve into "bad fanfiction". The "sex scene" was also tricky, since, one, she's 12 and it's creepy, two, she lacks the experience to write a good one, and, three, while I liked the bluntness of the original version("and then we had sex and it was awesome"), I couldn't deny that a bright and imaginative girl could probably write a better one even if she had no experience(including porn, written or otherwise). So hopefully it worked and wasn't too squicky.  
_

_Anyway, I showed this to a friend and after reading it he said that my fans were going to lynch me for this. But this idea was too good not to use, and I had so much fun writing it that if you do I'll die with a smile on face. But remember, if you do, I'll never be able to finish the story...  
_

_But I'll give you this glimpse into the future just because I'm in a good mood and feeling generous_

_.oOo.  
_

When I finally pulled away she had the biggest grin on her face and tears running down her cheeks and she said, "I knew it was you."

And of course my first instinct was to deny it, but I just couldn't lie to her that time. Not there, not like that. So, I dropped the hiss I usually put in my voice when I'm in costume and nodded and said, "Yeah, it's me. Don't tell anyone or I'll hunt you down."

She laughed and sniffed and said, "I won't tell anyone."

I stepped away from the cot and said, "Goodbye Jessi. Good luck."

"Goodbye. Thanks for everything." And then when I reached the door she said, "I love you."

I looked at her over my shoulder and said, "I love you too," then knocked to be let out.


	117. Chapter 117

**_Mako's Message:_**_ Another chapter? Already? Yes. Because not only have I been falling behind in my update schedule, but despite it taking time I should really be using trying to find a job, it is one of the few things that has kept me from sinking completely into a pit of despair. _Reading_ good fanf__iction also helps(hint hint). _

_Now, I also need to take a moment and address some issues that came up in regards to the last chapter.  
_

First:_ I have never done anything like that chapter before, at all, let alone in this story(the closest being 107, and that was done because even Mindy didn't know how much of that had been real) so telling me to knock it off is pointless._

Second:_ The purpose of that chapter was _not_, whether you wish to believe so or not, to troll you. If it was I can assure you I wouldn't have tried so hard to make it obvious that it wasn't on the level._

Third:_ I try very hard to avoid writing a chapter that doesn't have _some_ point to it in regards to the grand scheme of things. Even if it's just an excuse to write one detail. For example, chapters like this one fall into the category of "things that need to happen but aren't time crucial", even though the issue brought up in this chapter is long overdue. _

Fourth:_ To those of you who think that Dave and Mindy shouldn't be together without having to go through hell, I agree. _

Fifth: _To those of you who want them to just get together already... Dave chose Mindy over Katie, they've shared a bed on several occasions, and Mindy's favorite seat in the house is Dave's lap and he lets her have it as long as they're alone... So I think what you really want is a sex scene. In which case I direct you to_ Vacation Me_. But if you really just want to see them as an official couple look at chapters_ 6_, _10_, _11_, _15_, and _16_ of _Holiday Bonus_. _Passing the Torch_ might also interest you._

Sixth:_ To those of you who dislike happy endings or just like dark fics, look at _Broken Bird_, _Black Betty, Trust, and_ chapters _4_ and _5 of Holiday Bonus_. _Break Her_ might also interest you, but that one is pretty graphic and isn't for the faint of heart._

Seventh: _To those of you who insist on posting anonymous reviews..._ Register._ It takes like, ten seconds and I'll be able to respond to your reviews. questions, and issues personally. And I _DO_ respond to reviews. Every review I get in fact. Well, I try to at least. So if you're a fan of this story, it'll be worth the time. Trust me._

* * *

The costumes I ordered finally came in. And it's a good thing I ordered them when I did because it wasn't until I tried a new one on that I realized how fucking tight my old one was. Seriously. I didn't even notice it was getting hard to breathe in them. The new ones feel like I'm not wearing anything in comparison. I could practically hear my boobs thanking me. Maybe they'll actually grow some more now.

I also learned something about Dave.

He's an idiot.

A stupid, brain damaged, moron, with the survival instincts of lemming who is also a stubborn jackass that refuses to listen to people who know better than him.

I was willing to overlook that he was just wearing a wetsuit at first, since we were mostly just dealing with muggers, purse snatchers, and punks trying to make easy money robbing convenience stores. When the cunts showed up again I started trying to convince him to wear a vest under his suit, but the fucking idiot kept refusing. Said he felt like wearing a vest would be asking to get shot. Well guess what butthorn? YOU'RE ALREADY ASKING TO GET SHOT BY GOING OUT IN COSTUME! But when it started to look like they didn't carry guns, and we started running into them less and less, I started to let up on the vest thing. I can understand Dave not wanting to wear one, they're not the most comfortable things to wear and trying to fit one under his suit wouldn't have been easy. Not like we couldn't just buy him a bigger suit anyway.

But then, THEN I had to get new suits made for myself. This wasn't an option. So while I'm digging around trying to find the guy Daddy found to make our suits in first place, I come up with the brilliant idea to order DAVE some suits too. I even asked the guy to use neoprene or whatever the hell it is they make wetsuits out of because Dave never failed to rub in how his suit kept him warm whenever it rained and mine didn't.

So I've got him this awesome suit that looks just like his old one, except it's kevlar lined and even plated where it wouldn't affect mobility but would be really needed(like over his heart and lungs). It even had knee and elbow pads built into it like mine except they were covered instead of exposed so it looked EXACTLY the same as his old one and will even fit him better.

And what does this stupid bastard do?

He refuses to wear it.

STILL!

Says he "doesn't feel comfortable" wearing it. That not having armor encourages him to try his hardest to not get hit in the first place. The fucker even said that he hadn't gotten shot, but I had, so he'd consider his lack of armor a good luck charm.

Guess criminals aren't the only ones who are stupid and superstitious.

At least Marty has some sense, even if it was disappointing to find out.

See, I also had a costume made for Marty. And getting his measurements was a hell of a lot harder than getting Dave's. For one, Marty hadn't gotten around to buying new clothes(He wanted to make sure he could keep the weight off before buying a whole new wardrobe) so trying a sneak a look at the tags on his clothes would be useless. Two, I don't hang out with Marty so much that I can take measurements while he's napping like I can with Dave. So I ended up just comparing his frame to Dave's and taking a guess. And since his costume wasn't exactly iconic or anything, I took a few liberties with the design. Tried to make it look more like the suit from the Captain America movie since I know he's a fan and that's what he was obviously going for in the first place. And I requested that the shields on his arms be larger, made of steel, and have a kevlar lining so they'd actually be useful.

The guy really went above and beyond with them too. He turned the gloves into gauntlets that braced the shields instead of just being strapped around his arm so Marty could punch people with them and even put these little slider things on them so they wouldn't get in the way of grabbing stuff when he wasn't in a fight.

Dave was actually really excited about it. He liked the idea of Marty getting back on the streets with them, especially since now I could train him like I'd trained Dave. I wasn't really interested in turning our dynamic duo into a terrific trio let alone having another doofus apprentice, but having him part of Justice Forever would be fun. Just so long as he teams up with someone else for patrols. He'd probably get along well with Shield…

Anyway, it doesn't matter because he turned us down.

He said he felt lucky to have gotten off as easy as he did and didn't feel like pushing his luck any more. Even after we pointed out all the armor the new suit had(especially in the mask) and I offered to personally train him he still refused. I'm not really surprised though. Not everybody can get back up from something like that and keep going like Dave did. And even though I didn't want him butting in on my "alone" time with Dave, I was kind of disappointed. It'd be nice to have another friend in the hero biz.

Especially one that isn't a total fucking idiot who refuses to wear great, custom made, armor and is going to get himself shot and killed and leave me alone.


	118. Chapter 118

_**Mako's Message:** Hmm...I'm not sure how well this one will go over, or even the next one, but Ch120 will be homecoming, and that one...that one I think you'll all like. Or hate. It could go either way, really, and whatever the outcome I'm unrepentant. Kinda like this whole story. But this story is an idea I've had in mind since I wrote Ch105 and it was just a matter of finding a place for it. If I knuckle down and get to work, I should have the next two chapters up within a week, but they are not a priority._

_Enjoy.  
_

* * *

For weeks now I've felt like I was being watched. Not like I was being followed, or trying to hurt me, just that people have been _looking_ at me. That's not really knew though, I mean, I go out in costume and anybody and everybody we pass on the streets will watch us walk by. But this was different. It felt like…when you're sure someone is right behind you and then you look and no one is there. Like people were playing a joke on me.

And I was right.

Today Jessi sent me a link to a website called "Bombing Hit Girl"

It's nothing but pictures of people "with" me.

The site issued a challenge for people get as close to me as they can and have their photo taken without me noticing. Each week the site awards the person with the best photo fifty bucks.

And there are dozens of photos. One of them is of that guy who put his arm around my shoulders when we went into Times Square. It looks like it was the first one too.

Some of the people trying to win the prize really need to get themselves some balls though. A photo of you twelve feet away from me is not going to win the prize. Though, there was one really good one done from a distance. I don't know how they pulled it off. They must have been on the phone with each other, but it looks like the guy is leaning on me. You can tell he's a good ten feet behind me, but it's lined up perfectly. And whoever took the photo had to have been using a serious zoom lens because I'm practically looking into the camera.

My personal favorite is one of me leaning up against a street light while Dave was talking to someone(I forget about what so it was probably stupid), and there's a girl just about my size leaning against the other side of the pole in the exact same pose. It's kinda cool because it looks like it could be one of those "Super hero and her secret identity" shots.

The last week's winner I actually remember. I was waiting outside a convenience store and this guy bent down to tie his shoe, or so I thought. While he was kneeling he took a photo of himself with his camera phone. It was a really low angle( Any lower of an angle and it would have been up my skirt.) but it made me look all heroic and shit. It'd be a nice shot if the background wasn't a bunch of ads and magazines. And if there wasn't a douche grinning like an idiot into the camera.

And to think I stopped myself from kicking him because he was just some guy stopping to tie his shoe and there was no harm in him.

But as cool as some of the pictures were, this was obviously something I had to discourage. Forget the pictures themselves, if people keep trying to creep on me my nerves are going fry or I'm going to start ignoring the feeling of someone sneaking up on me. Or I might snap and stab someone in the face. None of these are acceptable options.

So I spent my evening tracking down the guy who ran the website and that night we paid him a visit.

But we didn't drag him out of bed and tie him up and threaten him and beat him and break his shit or anything like that.

We took pictures. Lots and lots of pictures.

Pictures of me holding his cat, using his computer, sitting in bed next to him reading a magazine, putting a gun to his head. Whatever we could think of. One of my favorites was of Dave standing in the kitchen eating a sandwich. It doesn't sound that funny, but all I could think was, "We in your kitchen, makin' a sandwich" and it just…ya know what? I don't have to explain myself so fuck you if you think I need to.

So then we took all the pictures and pinned them up to write "STOP" on the wall.

If he doesn't get the message, then maybe we'll drag him out of bed, tie him up, threaten him, beat him, and break his shit. Ya know, play it by ear.


	119. Chapter 119

_**Makok's Message****:** Alright. Here we are. Double update for Homecoming. And since it's a double update I'll make only one Author's Note. Homecoming is a chapter I've been looking forward to for a long time. I originally thought of it as Prom, but as time went on I thought that that was a little to long to wait and that it made more sense for it to be Homecoming. But that happens. You get new ideas, scrap old ones, or just reorder the ones you have. So, while the idea for this has been bouncing around my brain space for over six months, some stuff was thrown in at the spur of the moment. And I think those are some best parts of this. Perhaps Luan Mao was on to something with the whole "work only under deadline pressure" thing._

_Anyway, Ch120 is the cutoff for the next bonus chapter, everyone who has reviewed at least ten(10) chapters between 101 and 120 will be receiving it via e-mail(once i count all the reviews -shudder- and write it.)  
_

* * *

Okay, I'll admit it, I'm really starting to enjoy the whole cheerleading thing. I had a lot of fun at the game today. With everyone that was there for homecoming, the place was packed tighter than a can of sardines. And hearing them all cheering with us was...kind of awesome actually. And the place exploded when I did my dive off the pyramid. Totally worth all the time I spent convincing Cameron, Tashaya, and Coach Baum that I could do it without breaking my neck.

After that it was big rush to get me ready for the dance. Well, all the cheerleaders bolted after the game to get ready. I looked fucking casual about it in comparison. Still, there was a lot of running around to get my hair done and still have time to get dressed and then pick up Dillon. I'm still pissed about that.

Marcus insisted on picking up Dillon and driving us both to the dance. He refused to let me hire a car no matter how much I begged him. He said he didn't want me flashing money around that I shouldn't have. Like he needs to worry about that. He has no idea how much money I have. I could have hosted this fucking thing, and prom, and not make a dent in my suitcase cash.

Anyway, we still ended up with time to kill before we were supposed to go pick up Dillon, so now I'm sitting her chomping at the bit to go make my big duckling-to-swan appearance. Dave's eyes are going to pop out of his head when he sees me and then he's going to drown in his own drool. Hopefully there'll be some pants jizzing too.

God I can't wait. This is going to be fucking AWESOME!


	120. Chapter 120

_**Mako's Message:** This was a double update so if you somehow missed Ch119(it's happened) go back a chapter._

* * *

I am such a fucking idiot. I can't believe what a deluded twat I was to think winning Dave's affection would be as simple as showing up in a pretty dress with my hair done up and some make-up on.

So fucking stupid.

So, ya know, even though I didn't get my limo I still thought things would go well. WRONG. The whole thing fucking tanked.

Picking up Dillon went alright, except the wrist-corsage he got me didn't match my dress or my eyes, or anything.

Then when we get there, people couldn't stop staring at us like, "Aww, isn't that cute, they think they're people."

Dillon looked like he was going to pass out from all the blood rushing into his face and I was grinding my teeth so hard I won't be surprised if it turns out I cracked one.

And then when we were inside I couldn't find anyone. Dave, Angela, Jessi, not even Riley.

Dillon said he was going to get something for us to drink, but after a moment of standing there like an idiot and being snickered at I went after him. Better to suffer with company than alone.

So we're standing there drinking punch and I'm fighting the urge to go hide because if Dave doesn't at least see me then this whole operation would a complete failure. And _that_ is when I see Dave.

And dear fucking god did the man man look hot. He was wearing this dark blue suit with a black tie, a tan vest and a cream shirt had his hair combed off to the side, and there were a just a couple strands of hair that were falling into his eyes. He could have taken me right there on the floor with everyone taking pictures and I wouldn't have given a shit.

So I pull myself together, hand Dillon my drink and walk over to him.

He doesn't see me until I'm halfway too him and when he does his whole face lights up as he looks me up and down. Then he says, "Wow. Mindy. You look incredible."

And for one, glorious, moment, I was sure it was all going to to work out.

And then he says, "Riley? Riley! Come look at Mindy."

And Riley comes over, and she looks abso-fucking-lutely GORGEOUS! Her hair was cascading down over her shoulder, she's wearing this red, one strap dress with a slit in skirt all the way up to her hip, and then she wraps her arms around Dave's neck and I just wanted to cry.

And she looks me up and down and smiles at me and says, "Oh my god, look at you. I knew you could really shine if you just polished yourself up a bit. You're going to be a real heart breaker when you grow up."

And all I could say was, "Thanks" because the only thing going through my mind was that Riley must be the descendent of Aphrodite or something because she looked like she should be wearing a tag that said "To: Men, From: God"

And so after standing there like a retarded dear in headlights for a minute I finally manage to say, "I should get back to my date."

And Riley says, "Well don' keep the lucky guy waiting, he'll think he's lost you!" as I turn and walk away. And I laughed at the idea any guy but Dave could be considering themselves lucky when THAT was walking around., because I had to do something and it was either that or cry.

And when I went back to where I'd left Dillon he was gone and for one ego breaking moment I thought that even he wasn't interested in me anymore(Pathetic I know.), but then I saw him sitting at a table with Angela and her date and they were both waving me over.

The first thing out of Angela's mouth when I sat down was, "Oh my god, did you see Riley? She's like sex wrapped in silk."

And I just sort of laughed and let my head fall to the table.

We talked for a few minutes, then Dillon nudged me and asked if I wanted to Dance. I said, "Sure," cause, ya know, it's a DANCE and I thought it might be fun and help get my mind off of everything.

Yeah. It took us all of five seconds to realize we didn't know how to dance so we just kinda stood there, swaying like two douchebags in the wind.

I didn't make it through the song. I apologized to Dillon, telling him I was sorry but that I just couldn't do this, and then I walked out.

And that's when I found Jessi. I didn't know it was her at first, I just saw a couple standing under a tree arguing, it wasn't until I got closer that I recognized her voice, begging the guy to stop trying to get into her panties.

So I walked right up behind him and kicked him in the nuts. Then I kicked him a few more times and I felt a little better.

I asked Jessi if she was okay, and she said she was fine, and called me her hero.

I thought it was kinda funny.

I told her she should go back inside and find Angela and stick with her for the rest of the night. She hesitated a bit but she went in.

Then I kicked the guy again because that's just the kind of mood I was in.

And that's when SHE showed up.

She just called my name, once, and all I could say was just, "What do /you/ want?" I didn't even turn around because I could barely stand the sound of her voice right then let alone LOOK at the bitch.

And she just kept starting and stopping, "I-uh-Well-See-I-I-" like a retard.

Finally I couldn't take it anymore and I whirled around and shouted, "You _WHAT_?"

And Katie just stood there, her eyes flicking from me to the guy groaning on the ground, probably thinking the same thing I was: How reliable would this guy be as a witness?

Finally she stop gaping like a fish and said, "Nothing." and started backing away. Finally she turned and walked as fast as she could back inside and into the arms of one of the football players.

Jessi's ex-date was starting to get back on his feet so I stomped him back into the dirt before I went back to walking around.

That's when I found Todd sitting on the front steps by himself. I sat down and asked him what he was doing, and he said, "Just waiting." when I asked him what he was waiting for he said, "Until I can go home without embarrassing myself."

Apparently he'd come alone and felt just about as stupid as I had and came out here to hide out until enough time had passed that he could go home without looking pathetic. We sat there for awhile in silence for awhile, then he asked what I was doing out here, "Didn't you come with Darren?"

I said, "It's Dillon and yes. I just needed some fresh air."

After a minute I told him that Jessi was currently dateless, so he could go ask her to dance or whatever if he wanted to.

He said, "But she's a freshman. Don't you think that'd be kinda...creepy?"

I snorted and said, "No, _I _don't. Why? Do you?"

He didn't answer so after another minute I said I was going to go back and find Dillon.

I'd gotten maybe a dozen feet away before he called out, "Hey. You look great, by the way."

I smiled and said, "Thanks." then added, "Hope your night gets better," before walking off.

When I found Dillon he was sitting at a table with Jessi, but they weren't talking. I asked him if he wanted to go home and he just shrugged and said, "Sure," so I called Marcus and asked him to come get us.

We stopped for burgers before taking Dillon home.

After we dropped him off Marcus asked how everything went and if I was okay. I said, "It was great. I got kick the shit out some asshat that was getting too gropey with his date."

I don't think he knew if I was being serious or not because he didn't ask anything else for the rest of the night.

When I got home I went straight to my room and ripped my dress off. I think I'm going to burn the fucking thing.

And Marty just texted me that the entire betting pool about my dating life was thrown out because nobody bet on zero. So I also got to fuck up a bunch of idiots who should really be staying the fuck out of my private life's plans. So I guess the night wasn't a total loss.


	121. Chapter 121

_**Mako's Message:**I am SEVERELY tempted to make use of this as my own blogg-y-type-thing, but I really shouldn't let myself get into a habit of that. Instead I'll sum up the decline in updates as "life sucks" and move on._

_Next, I want to apologize to in advance to anyone I might have used the words "cute or "fluff" to describe this chapter to. It didn't go that way._

_And finally I want to share a short but funny story. Of sorts. Some of you who recently started reading and those of you with long memories(and face it, with this fic you need one) will remember that chapter 60 was the end of "ActI". At the time, I had apparently been drugged and delusional because I thought I'd finish "ActII" by this point. That is not the case. "ActII" will begin sometime around Mindy's 14th year. For those of you not keeping track, I haven't covered ONE year since then, let alone two. Funny huh? But what can I say? Their lives just keep getting busier.  
_

_Oh, and there was some confusion about the bet Marty mentioned last chapter. It was originally mentioned in Ch106 and was stated to be: "How many more guys will Mindy destroy before she goes out with someone?"  
_

_Bonus qualifiers after the chapter.  
_

* * *

Sometimes I don't know why I do things. Or don't do things.

I felt completely drained this morning. I didn't get out of bed when I woke up. I just laid there and wrapped the blankets around me. Marcus came in to talk to me. He asked if I'd gone out with Dave after coming home, since I'm usually out of bed by eight when I don't and it was almost eleven.

I didn't know what to say.

Then he asked me if I wanted to talk about the dance.

There was so much I wanted to say about the dance, but I didn't say any of it.

Then he asked me if I was okay.

I didn't answer that either.

Before he left he opened the curtains, but the sky was completely fucking overcast which just made me want to stay in bed even more. It was nice that he cared though. Unlike some people. But then, I suppose I can't really blame him. He was probably still curled up in bed with Riley.

I did eventually crawl out of bed though. But when I did I ended up just staring at my phone for a half hour.

I ended up calling Dillon. I'm still not sure why I did. I guess I figured that if there was anyone who might feel the way I did it'd be him. I asked him if he'd like to meet me at this playground on the way to each others house and he said he'd love to, so I said I'd be there as soon as I could.

I almost didn't shower.

When I pulled up on my bike he was already there. Guess he didn't have to get ready or anything like I did.

I didn't say anything to him at first. We just kind of walked around for awhile. Eventually I asked him if he'd brought his camera. He said, "Yeah." So I leaned up against one of the crawling tubes and asked him to take my picture.

And we did that for awhile.

We didn't talk much, just him suggesting different poses and me asking if I was doing it right.

It wasn't until I was sitting on a swing and he was taking pictures of me from the one next to me that I finally apologized for last night.

He said, "It's not you're fault it sucked. I realized it was a stupid idea before we even walked through the door."

That almost made me laugh.

So I told him it was my fault for not being there for him.

He said, "You don't need to apologize for that. I didn't expect you to act like my girlfriend."

I said, "But I could have at least acted like I was there with you, instead of trying to impress someone else."

All he said to that was, "Dave."

I shouldn't have been surprised, Dillon isn't stupid and I did kind of make a bee line for him. So I said, "Yeah." And after a moment of silence I said, "Tell anyone and I'll break your neck."

He laughed. Once. And said I didn't need to worry about him telling anyone.

We just sat there on the swings, rocking back and forth for awhile before he finally said, "Sucks, doesn't it?"

I smiled a little at that, and after a second said, "Yeah. It does."

For awhile there was silence, but I think he was trying to work up the courage to ask what he eventually did, "Is there any chance you might change your mind? About me?"

I smiled and looked at him for the first time since we sat down and I said, "I really doubt it. Dave is-" And it took me a moment to figure out what Dave is. Something that I could actually tell him at least. I finally settled on, "One of a kind."

Dillon said, "So are you."

I smiled and thanked him, then said, "You _are_ a great guy you know. If I didn't have my heart set on someone else, I'd have gone out with you."

He said, "Thanks. I think."

That's when I decided it was time to get going, so I told him it was time for me leave and got up and started for my bike.

Then, for some reason I stopped, turned around, walked back to him, and then leaned over and kissed him on the cheek and said, "Find another girl. Then at least one of us can be happy." Then I went straight to my bike and rode home without looking back.

I don't know why I did that. Any of it. From staying in bed all morning to kissing Dillon. It's not like any of it made me feel better. I just...

I don't know.

Fuck my life.

* * *

_If your name is on this list, and you don't already have it, send me a PM with your e-mail address in the follopwing format: [Name] at [service] dot [net/com/whatever] Please be sure to do this. Fanfiction will erase your e-mail address otherwise._

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**_ATTENTION!  
_**_I just became aware that we will now be able to put cover art on our stories, and my art is decent at best, so I'm starting a contest. Create, I don't care how, a picture that best portrays this story. The best picture, as decided by me, will be used as the cover for this story. The winner will get their art promoted (in the summary, or wherever it'd be most visible) and I'll write them a story about...anything they want. If I can. Provided it doesn't spoil the end of this story.  
_Note:_ The site says, "_For the best image quality, please submit image files with width to height ratio of 6/9 and size of 300x450 or higher._"_


	122. Chapter 122

**_Mako's Message: _**_First off, I need to talk about this cover art contest I mentioned in the previous chapter. First of all, the art that is currently up is NOT a reader submission, but a sketch I did myself, and it's not that great, and it's just line art because I can't color to save my life. It's just a place holder._

_The second thing is that I've decided that this will be a "running contest". There is no end date for it, and I will continue to accept submissions until the story is over, possibly beyond. Every piece of art I decide to use as cover art will win the artist a fic of their request.  
_

_Thirdly, I want to (re?)state that this art can be anything. Photos(original or photoshopped), hand drawn, CG, whatever. It can be realistic or stylized, doesn't matter. I just have to love it, or find it most appropriate for the story._

_Other than that, not much else to say. Just a fun little chapter. You _might_ want to go (re)read the christmas chapter of Holiday Bonus too. Just because. But it's far from necessary._

_Enjoy!  
_

* * *

Riley needs to stop making me like her.

With Katie it was easy. I didn't like her, and if I get a chance I'm going to kill her. Or I'll do something so that she can never have children. Depends on how creative and or merciful I'm feeling at the time.

But Riley...she's genuinely nice and really cool. She offered to take Angela and all her friends out to the mall for her birthday. Which was kind of a surprise until I found out that it would just be the four of us. But that was a surprise too. I mean, last year she had like, three other girls at her party besides me and Jessi, and now that she's a cheerleader you'd think she'd have MORE friends.

Now that I think about it though, by the end of the last school year I didn't see her hanging out with anyone else...or talking about anyone else...not really. When I met her I remember thinking she must be really popular if she was worried about people crashing her party, and I had the impression that she wanted to be one of those super popular girls with a whole mob of friends, but when I asked her about it today she just put an arm around my and Jessi's shoulders and said, "Quality over quantity girls, quality over quantity."

Anyway, Angela's mom dropped us off at the mall and we were just wondering what we should do while we waited when Riley showed up, looking like a sexy bitch as usual. She came up and hugged Angela and said, "Happy Birthday" and then she looked up at the mall, then back to us, and then she asked Angela to hold her hand.

We all kinda blanked out on that one.

But she just grinned and held out her hand and said, "Come on, give me your hand."

So Angela took her hand and then Riley looked at me and Jessi and said, "Okay, you two hold hands too."

I admit I didn't get why she wanted us to hold hands. It's not like we were a bunch of toddlers and she was afraid we'd get lost. But she wanted us to so I shrugged it off and held out my hand for Jessi. She took it, but she looked embarrassed as all hell. I think I even caught her blushing a few times, not that I can blame her, considering.

Then Riley raised her and Angela's hands up, laced their fingers together, pulled her close and said, "Alright, let's go fuck with men's minds."

And it all clicked.

I think Angela really enjoyed the looks she and Riley were getting because she really started to get into it. She never once looked like she tried to let go of her hand, just pulling Riley along if she decided she wanted to go in a different direction, and they always stood as close to each other as they could without actually occupying the same space. But damnit they tried.

I wonder what Dave would have thought if he'd seen them like that.

I wasn't having as much fun with it as they were. I actually kind of forgot I was holding Jessi's hand and just kept doing it because I didn't think about letting go either. Nobody looked at us the way people looked at Angela and Riley though. They were raising dicks and the most we raised were eyebrows. It didn't bother me though. The last thing I needed was people actually thinking I was in to girls. Not that I saw anybody from school, but still.

There was one moment though when Jessi and I were sitting on a bench outside of a Victoria's Secret. Angela and Riley wanted to go in, but Jessi and I refused. I had no interest in seeing Riley pick out underwear..

Actually, maybe I should have gone in. Might have given me an idea about what Dave likes. Besides leggy blondes with big tits that is.

Anyway, while Angela and Riley went in and looked through frilly underwear Jessi and I sat outside on a bench, and we were still holding hands because we'd just stopped thinking about it. And across the...hall? Street? These two guys were walking in front of the stores across from us and one of them spotted us and pointed us out to his friend, who looked over and smiled at us. Then they lifted their hands up, letting us see that they were holding hands just like we were, and nodded to us before going back to whatever they were talking about.

Jessi turned completely red. It was pretty funny actually.

I told her we didn't have to keep holding hands if it was embarrassing her so much, but she just shook her head and said, "No, it's okay. It's kinda fun, watching guys look at us. That was just..." and she blushed again.

And we ended up sitting out there for ages. I ended up texting the guys while we waited. Dillon sent me one of the photos from the other day(one of me on the swing)which was actually really good. I showed Jessi and she immediately asked me to send it to her too.

I'm not surprised they took so long though. They were having so much fun in there I think they might have actually forgotten about us for awhile. They weren't even bothering to get dressed between trying things on and would just walk back out into the store in whatever they tried on last, like they were putting on a fashion show. I pretended to blow my brains out when we noticed this, which Jessi thought was hilarious.

The worst part though, was that when they did finally come back out Riley was staring at this business card, which Angela explained was part of a job offer. The blond bitch actually got an offer from the regional manager to be a Victoria's Secret model. Well, really she said she was going to try and set up an interview/audition/whatever for her, and that if she didn't hear anything from them in a week to call the number on the card.

But after looking at the card for a couple minutes she threw it away, which horrified Angela so much it was fucking hilarious. She stood staring into the garbage can for almost a full minute before finally saying, "Why?"

And then Riley had to go and shrug and say, "I've got better things to do." which actually made me respect her more.

So then we all decided it was time to get lunch, and Riley treated us to whatever we wanted from the food court.

As we all sat down, Riley stared up the ceiling and tapped her lips and then said, "Let's play a game." Whenever everybody stared at her she said, "Well this is her Birthday party after all. We should play at least one game."

I grabbed Jessi's hand again and lifted it up over the table and said, "This didn't count?"

Riley just smirked and said, "That's an entirely different kind of game." Then she sat down and said, "Alright, let's play 'The Celebrity Look-Alike' game. We take turns being compared to other celebrities. I'll go first as an example." and then she leaned onto the table and said, "So, who do you think I look like?"

Jessi made the first suggestion, "Britney Spears?"

Riley's mouth fell open a little and she shot her this "wtf" look just before Angela said, "Jessica Simpson." Riley turned and glared at her and I grinned and said, "Pamela Anderson."

And with that she threw her fork into her tray and crossed her arms and said, "Okay, seriously, fuck you bitches. I bought you lunch and this is how you repay me?"

After we were done laughing Angela took some time to think about it before saying, "Scarlett Johannson? Maybe?"

And Riley said, "Okay, that's more like it," then looked at me.

I snorted as I picked at my food and said, "I'm sticking with Pamela Anderson."

Riley flipped me off then asked Jessi, "What about you?"

Jessi said, "I'm trying to remember her name...but there was this girl on this show my brother watched that looked like you...I don't know her name though. It was about killer robots that looked like people."

Riley just looked at her with her eyebrows raised, "Killer robots? Was it Battlestar Galactica?"

Jessi shook her head and said, "No, this was in set in the present"

Riley said, "No idea then."

Angela said, "Alright, my turn."

Riley said, "I have a girl in mind I just can't remember her name. Give me a minute."

Angela looked to me and I said, "I guess you kinda look like Emma Stone."

Then Riley snapped her fingers and said, "Emily Browning!"

Jessi said, "I was thinking she kinda looked like Selena Gomez..."

Riley looked at Angela for a moment and said, "Yeah, I can kinda see it..."

Then she said, "What about me?"

And nobody said anything. For a long time.

Jessi kinda shrank into herself and I think she said, "Nevermind" but I couldn't really hear her.

Then Riley said, "Jessi makes me think of a taller, slimmer, Kat Dennings."

Angela asked who that was and Riley just said, "Google her."

Then I took the plunge, "So, who do I look like?"

"Chloe Moretz", from all of them. At the same time.

I'm not gonna lie and say I wasn't shocked at how quickly they all answered. I asked them, "Don't you even need to think about it?"

Riley shook her head and said, "No, not really."

Angela nodded her head and smiled at me, "It's kinda creepy."

Jessi shrugged and said, "You also kinda look like Taylor Swift,"

That was about when Riley checked her phone and swore then said, "I just just realized that there's no way for me to get to work on time if we go see a movie. It's my fault, we shouldn't have spent so much time in Victoria's Secret. Can we cut this short? I'll make it up to you another time I swear."

Angela was fine with it, saying that it would give us plenty of time to get ready for trick-or-treating, so we split, and headed home.

It kinda sucks though, when I picked out my costume I was figuring I'd be going with Dave for at least some of it, but he's working with Riley, and even if he did get to see me in costume it wouldn't matter. It doesn't matter how tight my pants are, or how loose my shirt is, or if I don't bother with a bra, because Riley will always be able to out do me in sex appeal. And even if Dave thought I was one sexy pirate, he would probably just imagine what she'd look like in what I was wearing.

But at least I'll still be carrying a real cutlass, so hopefully we'll run into candy thieves again.


	123. Chapter 123

_**Mako's Message: **Here we are. _Precocious Crush Ch123_. We will never see that again._

_This chapter is the much anticipated(I hope) Halloween chapter...well, technically it's the second part of the Halloween chapter since Angela's birthday is on Halloween and her birthday party was last chapter._

_Anyway, this chapter will also be viewed by...at least one person as a very welcome return to form. But since I'm guessing most of the people reading this are actually fans of the comic/movie I predict a lot of people will like this chapter._

_And finally, this chapter is dedicated to my dear friend _DangerousBeauty84 _who, upon hearing that this chapter weighed in at a whopping 3,252 words (-eyeroll-) blew her brains out. May her memory live on forever. :P__  
_

_Enjoy!_

P.S. I usually give teasers of some sort around now, do you all want any more?

* * *

We have been so negligent in our jobs as superheroes it's disgraceful. Seriously. I can't believe we got blindsided like that. It should have been obvious if we'd just thought about it, even if we did have our heads up our asses. We should just hang up our masks and live like normal people.

It started out small enough, Angela, Jessi, and I went out trick-or-treating(Angela was a zombi, Jessi was Catwoman, and I was a pirate. I know, ironic.) We were having fun, getting candy, and then just as it was starting to get really dark, this guy came running and screaming down the street wearing a glow-in-the-dark skeleton costume with a machete. Nobody really thought anything about it since it was Halloween. Until he slashed some poor kids arm open.

Kid went down screaming and everybody started panicking.

Some people ran, other people froze or just coward there on the sidewalk. Unfortunately Angela and Jessi were part of the "stand there clutching each other and screaming" crowd. It would have been so much easier if they'd just run off. Then I could have dealt with the guy and then found them later and said, "Thanks for ditching me bitches." Instead they just stood there and screamed while the guy ran toward us swinging away.

I tried to shove them into motion, but the stubborn bitches were totally frozen.

So I put myself between them and the psycho, held my cutlass up, and when he got close to us and pulled his arm back to attack us I just stepped in and slashed him first. It wasn't a good swing, since I was trying to not look like I was good at this and just reacting reflexively, but it did the job.

While he was busy bleeding on the sidewalk I managed to get Angela and Jessi moving, but they were still kind of in shock and not very helpful. I could hear screaming in the distance from pretty much every direction, and Angela had recovered enough to spout a steady steam of "oh my god oh my god oh my god"

I picked up my phone to call Angela's mom to come get them just as Dave called me. First words out of his mouth, "There are a bunch of fucking psychos running around attacking people!"

I said, "I noticed. What are we going to to about it?"

"It's not like the fourth, they aren't rioting in groups, they're just running around individually. I think the only thing we can do is divide and conquer. Did you hear from Marcus yet?"

I told him, "No." then whispered, "I'm trying to get Angela and Jessi home safe."

He was like, "Shit. You're out in this out of costume?"

I said, "Yeah. I already took one guy out though. But I can't do anything else until I get Angela and Jessi somewhere safe."

I could hear him swearing on the other end for awhile before he said, "Well, there's nothing we can do about it. Get them home and then suit up as soon as you can." then he paused and said, "Text me every ten minutes so I know you're okay."

I couldn't help smiling, "It's just few lone cunts, I think I can handle myself."

He laughed and said, "I know. Just be careful."

I said, "You too Ass." and hung up.

I'd stepped away from Angela and Jessi so they couldn't hear and when I came back Angela was just hanging up with her mom who was coming to get us. Then Marcus called me and the first thing he said was, "Are you out in this?"

I said, "I'm with Angela and Jessi."

There was a pause and I could hear phones going crazy and people yelling in the background, then he said, "You're going to be though, aren't you."

I said, "Of course."

I could hear him sigh and then he said, "Well, I couldn't really stop you even if we didn't need all the help we could get. These wack jobs are everywhere. Just be careful and call in as many locations as you can."

"I'll call 911, leave them an intersection and hang up. It's what we usually do. I'm not promising any survivors though."

Marcus was silent for a really long time and I know it hurt him to say what he did, "Just protect as many people as you can."

I said, "I will. I gotta go now though."

Then Marcus said, "Text me every five minutes so I know you're safe."

I laughed and said, "Ya know, Dave only asked for a text every ten minutes."

Then he said, "Dave isn't your fa—guardian."

It's not often that that comes up, but it's always fucking awkward when it does. I said, "I'll be careful"

Then he said, "No you wont. But I'll try to pretend you will."

That's when Angela's mom came to screeching halt in front of us. I said, "That's Angela's mom. I gotta go."

We got in and I told her that Marcus wanted me to go straight home because he'd be there to get me as soon as he could and take me to a police station. She didn't like the idea of leaving me somewhere alone, even if it was my home, but she eventually agreed.

As soon as she dropped me off I suited up and then threw a hoodie on over my costume. Even though it was dark I didn't want to risk Hit Girl being seen on my bike, let alone coming out of my house.

I sent Dave my last real text before this was over, telling him I was suited up and hitting the streets. He sent back, "Good luck. Be safe. Kick ass."

So I went out on my bike, found a fucker, rode around, stashed the bike and came at him from the opposite direction.

This guy was on rollerblades, wearing a hockey jersey and mask, and had a hockey stick that had a blade attached to...the part you hit the puck with(It kind of looked like the bastard spawn of a scythe and a pole ax). He was also covered in blood, but I don't think that was part of the costume.

He chased some kids into a house and hammered on the door howling for a minute before he skated down the walk laughing. I yelled, "Hey shit bucket!" and that got his attention.

He looked at me and let out a whoop and pointed at me and said, "You're mine bitch!"

I almost laughed. I guess terrorizing kids and housewives gives you an overinflated sense of confidence.

He skated at me and took a swing at me that I just hopped out of the way of. He turned and came back and took a wider swing at my legs. I hoped over it and said, "You really suck at this," as he turned to try another pass at me.

Now, I keep a spare suit at home, but the bifurcated staff Dave gave me, the throwing knives I got from Col Stars, and even the butterfly sword were at the safe house, so I had to make due with my knucks, the cutlass, and a pair of handguns. Tragic, right?

Anyway, as he came at me again I ran forward, jumped up and hit him with a lariat. The result was kinda spectacular really. The guy had some good momentum built up, but since he was on wheels his feet just flew out from under him and he actually flipped over twice before he landed on the pavement.

While he was trying get some air back in his lungs I took his stick and axed him in the chest with it. Then I gave it a quick twirl and said, "Hey, I'm gonna hold on to this, you don't mind did you?"

He gurgled a little which I took as a "No", so I said "Thanks." and went looking for someone else to try my new toy out on.

Didn't take me long though. All I had to do was follow the smoke.

See, the next guy I ran into had a homemade flamethrower. He also, somehow, seemed to have found a way to look like he was on fire without hurting himself because he didn't seem to mind that there were flames on his arms, head, and back. And I guess this guy had also run off all his potential victims because he'd started setting property on fire.

He spotted me and tried to run into flame range, but I just pulled one of my guns and shot him in the face. It wasn't very satisfying, but I didn't want to risk setting myself on fire by getting close to the guy.

The next guy actually kind of amused me. He was dressed as the green goblin and was throwing molotov cocktails at people and into buildings. He didn't see me though, so I just walked up behind him and hit him in the spine with my hockey scythe.

I spotted another one not much later, with white body paint all over him and dressed up like an american indian, chasing a group of people down a cross street waving a couple of hatchets. I yelled, "Hey tonto!" ( I wish I could have been more creative, but I didn't really have any time to think and that was the first thing that came to mind.) and he showed the most intelligence of anyone that night. He turned and ran.

He had at least half a block on me and I couldn't let him get away so I just lined it up and shot him.

That's when Col. Stars called me to ask if things were settling down where I was, because as he put it, "This fucking insanity is spreading."

And, like the universe was trying to prove his point, this car came flying around the corner, with one guy hanging out the passenger window with a bat, whooping and hollering. They drove straight at me so I told Col. Stars I'd have to call him back.

When they tried to run me over I jumped up on the hood , rolled onto the roof and stabbed the hockey scythe into the roof to hold on with. The guy with the bat climbed half out the window and tried to knock me off, but I just swung my leg up and kicked him in the face, sending him sprawling across the pavement. It took me a minute to shift my grip so I could swing into the car, but I managed it and put a gun to the drivers head and said, "Stop the car or I blow your brains out and do it myself."

He did.

Then I said, "Thank you for your cooperation," and shot him anyway.

Then after making sure I still had everything after my little ride I was back on the hunt.

Unfortunately that was pretty much the end of anything interesting that night. From there on there weren't any more people in any real costumes or any real gimick. Just a bunch of fuckers with bats, or bottles, or broom handles, or pool cues, or whatever. Couple guys had guns but they were less interesting since those guys I just shot. But I did come across a group of guys kicking the shit out of another guy on the ground, while someone held a woman who I'm guessing was the girlfriend of the guy getting the beating because she was crying and screaming for them to stop.

There were five of them total, but I only had three bullets left, so I shot three of them as I walked up and used used my hockey scythe on the fourth. The fifth guy tried to use the woman as a hostage, but he didn't actually have a weapon, so she was more of a human shield. I took a moment to make sure the guy wasn't in immediate danger of dying before I went to deal with the fifth.

He kept backing away with the girl, telling me to stay away and calling me a crazy bitch.

I wanted to avoid hurting her if I could, so I dropped the guns(which were empty anyway) and the hockey scythe and held up empty hands and said, "Okay, I'm unarmed, now let her go."

He hesitated for a minute then practically threw her at me and ran for it.

But I was planning on that and grabbed the cutlass off my back and threw it at him in about half a second. Unfortunately I hit him with the pommel instead of the blade(it's not like I had practice doing that, though maybe I should) but it knocked him down anyway. So I ran over and jumped on his back before he could get back up, smashed his head into the pavement, then flicked out my balisong and stabbed him in the neck.

Then I checked on the couple to see if they needed anymore help, but they'd already called for an ambulance and they guy still didn't seem to be actively dying so I left them for the ambulance to pick up.

It was almost midnight by the time Marcus called me and said, "Calls have stopped coming in, are you okay by yourself or would you like me to come home?"

I said, "Oh, I'm okay. It's been pretty quiet around here for awhile and I've been talking with friends."

He said, "Alright, I'll see you tomorrow then."

I said "Goodnight."

And he said, "Goodnight pumpkin."

I think he heard me roll my eyes because he laughed before he hung up.

Col. Stars called us all in for an emergency meeting not long after, and I'd been walking around for six hours at that point so I said "fuck it" and took a cab.

It took me awhile to get one to stop, and if I'd been with Dave I might have yelled, "It's because I'm purple isn't it!" but I didn't feel like entertaining random people on the street.

The driver of the cab that did stop though must have been a fan of mine though because he said there was no charge for the ride. I do keep some money on me though, just in case, so I tipped him the full fare.

And I got a huge surprise when I got there. Biker Knight was there. Which was awesome. I don't know how The Gentlman convinced him to come, but that was probably just his "natural" charm. He just kind of hung back against the wall and didn't talk though. Which sucked.

The Guardian was there too, and he's good but he doesn't like me because he's strictly "no kill" and always looks at me like he'd like to teach me a lesson whenever we bump into each other(which isn't often) so he can kiss my ass.

Anyway. Col. Stars had us talking about what happened tonight, and what we'd run into. Everybody had run into people in some sort of costume, usually with a gimmick, but those guys had dried up after an hour or two, and from then on it just seemed to be a bunch of freaks who decided to "get in on the fun"

Shield said he ran into a cowboy with about a dozen arrows sticking out of him who'd given him trouble because the guy had a LOT of ammo on him and he'd had to wait for about five minutes before he ran out and he could move in to take him down.

So I told him about "runs-with-dumbasses" and we all agreed it would have been fun to see what would've happened if they'd run into each other.

Dave had a fun encounter with a guy who was covered in black from head to toe, was wearing a light blue, tattered all to hell cloak, and carrying a real scythe. He said that the guy was good at keeping them at a distance so he'd just used his tazer on him. Which surprised me because I didn't know he was still carrying that pathetic little thing. If he's going to carry one I should get him a real tazer. The kind people don't just get back up from.

I was the only one who'd collected a trophy though.

I wanted to hold onto it, but when Col. Stars asked if I wouldn't mind making it the first entry in our trophy room I could say no.

I think we'll be filling it up pretty quick though, now that they're thinking about it. I know I'm wishing we'd grabbed "The Great White"s sword. Well, Biker Knight took down "Whitey" so it wasn't ours to take, but we could have grabbed Nathan Bush's coat or something. Not that I'm ever going to need a trophy to remember HIM.

I'm looking forward to the day we get to mount "The Motherfucker"'s mask on the wall. With his head still in it.

But after that it kind of turned into a lecture on not letting this sort of thing happened again. Twice now Chris has blindsided us with this crap, and we really should have known about it. So we'd all vowed to be more careful and to keep our eyes and ears open for anything like this. By the time we left we all created fake accounts to follow him on Twitter( Ifuckyourmom) and on Facebook(Iamthe Mothefucker). And let me tell you was THAT depressing. I can't believe how many friends he had. It's no wonder he never seems to run out of nut jobs who're willing to sign up for this shit. As if I didn't have too little respect for people as it was.

It was almost two by the time we got out and I was kind of hoping Dave would want to crash at the safehouse, but as soon as I brought it up he said, "Oh shit, I have to check on Riley."

Apparently he ran out of work after he called me, telling Riley to stay inside and barricade the door until it was safe, saying Marcus had asked him to go get me and take me home.

Riley hadn't stayed in the shop though. Dave was pissed at first, but I heard him say, "No, I guess I couldn't expect you to stay there all night." and then he apologized for taking so long to check in on her, and after that I couldn't hear anything because he made sure I couldn't hear what they were talking about.

So I sat there and took out my aggression on some power bars while he finished talking to her.

Then Col. Stars offered to give us a ride home since we were the last ones there, and I appreciated his offer as much much as it annoyed me since it meant I wouldn't get to sleep with Dave, but getting to sleep in my own bed would be great too. I mean, yeah, I love getting to cuddle with Dave, but that bed isn't exactly the most comfortable. It's also only a single so, again, while it forces cuddling...it forces cuddling so there's no room to stretch out.

So tonight was all kinds of fucked up and I still need to go get my bike and Marcus' hoodie tomorrow.

God I wish I didn't have to go to school tomorrow.


	124. Chapter 124

**_Mako's Message: _**_...The only thing I can say about this chapter is "I regret nothing."_

_I'd now like to direct your attention to the awesome cover art submitted buy _Coasting_. He(or she) is the current _PC Cover Art Champion_ and will recieve a fic with the subject/plot of their choice, provided it doesn't spoil the ending of this story. Anyone who submits a better(Higher quality, more appropriate, more eye catching) picture, will also get a fic and credit in the description. Same deal for anyone who subits a better picture than THAT one. _

_Or nobody really cares/is that ambitious and we'll just keep this one up for the rest of time. Either way is fine with me.  
_

* * *

Today was...surprising.

But in a good way. I guess. Which was nice, since the buzz I had from being able to cut loose on Halloween been dying a slow painful death. Pretty much from the moment Dave called Riley it'd been all downhill.

Well, not ALL downhill. The next day one of my classmates was bragging about Hit Girl saving her and her friends from some some lunatic who had been chasing them. And this other guy was telling second hand stories about how his older brother was saved by Hit Girl from a guy who was about to fire bomb the bar he worked at. They both thought she was awesome, which had me feeling pretty good about myself.

Angela, however, had to ruin _that_ buzz by saying, "Well, Mindy saved me and Jessi from one of those wackjobs herself!" So I had to spend the rest of the day being as modest as possible and saying that I just panicked and swung when the guy came at us and got lucky.

Maybe it was unnecessary but I spent the rest of the day looking for opportunities to trip just to add a little extra layer to my deception.

Anyway today we were hanging out at Atomic Comics since today was one of the rare days that Dave and I don't go out AND Dave doesn't have to work. (He usually likes to go out on his days off from work, since he can actually rest before patrol) And I was sitting with Dave, but not as close as I usually would, because...it was almost torture. I could sit right up next to him if I wanted, in private he'll let me sit on his lap, on Halloween we probably could have slept in the same bed. But being that close to Dave and knowing that I was never going to get any closer to him, not while I'm a "pre-teen" and especially not while he has Riley, just fucking hurts. It feels like I'm trying to break through a brick wall.

So we were just sitting and bullshitting about stuff and generally having a good time, and I went up to get another drink, and started looking through some comics while they were making it, when someone came up behind me and said, "No wonder you want him. He is a _cutie_."

There was absolutely nothing threatening in what she said, but the implication that _anyone_ had figured out I was interested in Dave, or worse, my secret identity, was enough to make me freeze up.

I turned and there was a woman leaning back against the racks opposite me holding her hands up in front of her, "Don't hit" she said, "It's just me."

I feel kinda stupid for not recognizing her, and I probably would have figured it out if I'd had a few more seconds and hadn't been freaking out about one or more of my biggest secrets being found out, but I didn't realize who it was until she said, "Does this help?" and flipped the hood of her jacket up so that it hung down in front of her eyes.

Yes. White Mage. The member of Justice Forever with the _least concealing costume_, and I didn't recognize her.

I should have known it was just from what she said. Nobody who could have figured out I like Dave wouldn't have known what he looked liked, and the one person I _did_ tell only knew us in costume.

She asked, "We okay?"

And I said, "Yeah, but did you have to sneak up on me like that?"

Then she smirked at me and said, "What should I have done? Said, 'Hi Hit Girl, nice to see you?'"

I grudgingly had to admit that she probably had picked the best way to introduce herself.

So then she asked how things were going "on the Dave front" and I was about to tell her about homecoming and what a disaster that'd turned out to be when I realized that there were regular customers around that might hear. And since I'm not just a regular but a pretty unique one they'd be sure to recognize me and of course they new Dave. And since he's usually here with me I think most people just assumed I was his sister or something and I had no desire to make people start questioning our relationship by letting them overhear my pathetic attempt at seduction.

So I took my drink and asked if she felt like walking around the block with me.

She didn't say much, but by the smile on her face I think she thought my plan to win him over by showing up at the dance looking all done up and pretty was cute. She half laughed and half cringed when I told her about Riley, which made me want to step on her foot, but she was my only ally in this so I decided against it. Even if I was just playing around. Sorta.

When I finished telling her about the dance, and about Dave calling Riley(who we refer to as BBS, for Blond BombShell) right after the meeting on Halloween how he'd stepped away from me to have talk to her about things that were obviously not about her safety she said, "Well, I doubt this would have helped, but I think you made a mistake trying to be Cinderella at the dance. You should have tried to be...'Hit Girl In A Dress', I guess. Your uniqueness is your biggest strength. You're different from pretty much every other girl on the planet, so you shouldn't try to blend in with the others. At least, not where Dave is concerned."

I told her, "'Hit Girl In A Dress' sounds fine on paper, but I was trying to avoid wearing something that might give away my identity. I already have a reputation for kicking ass, and I'm kind of the star of the cheerleaders-" and that was when I knew I'd said too much.

She covered up her snicker pretty fast, but I still heard it. When I looked over it seemed the only thing she was trying to not do was laugh _out loud_. She was standing there covering her mouth with both hands, shaking in silent laughter. Finally she pulled her hands away long enough to blurt out, "Youracheerleader?" before covering her mouth again.

I glared at her until she stopped laughing, then I said, "Yeah. But it was to get my friend on the team."

She still seemed far too amused for my liking, but she was trying to figure out how that worked so at least she wasn't laughing at me any more. Finally she gave up, "Okay, how exactly does joining the team get her a spot on...you joined on the condition that she'd get a spot too, didn't you?"

I...half grinned half grimaced(Is there a word for that?), and said, "Yup. They saw me warming up with her, and even though I wasn't trying out they decided that they just had to have me, and she just missed making the team so I took advantage."

"That's really cool of you." she said.

I thanked her and said, "It's kinda fun, but it ends up being more trouble than it's worth most of the time. I mean, even with all the shit Dave caught when it was going around that he was screwing me I still catch guys checking me out. It's annoying."

She laughed and said, "Well, if there's one thing that's nearly impossible for the teenaged male to ignore it's a nice pair of legs, regardless of how young they are."

I snorted, "Maybe they should take lessons from Dave. He doesn't have any trouble ignoring me."

Then she looked at me for a minute and said, "Have you tried prancing around in front of him in your cheerleading uniform?"

I'll be honest, I hadn't considered that. I usually try to forget that I'm a cheerleader since it just seems so...shallow and vapid. Our team is actually pretty cool though, Cameron's a real leader and not just an Alpha Bitch with a bunch of...sycophants trailing along behind her. She's actually interested in cheerleading as a sport, so she doesn't put up with prissy bitches who just want to look pretty and be popular.

Once she suggested it though, I started wondering how I could arrange that. But then I remembered Riley. So I told her, "Thanks for the suggestion, but even if I really am pretty up here," and I drew a circle in the air around my face, "this" and I drew a bigger air circle around the rest of my body, "isn't going to lure a guy away from a girl who could be a Victoria Secret model."

She laughed again and said, "You ARE pretty. And you don't need to go exaggerating things like that. You'll only discourage yourself."

I said, "I'm not exaggerating. She got an offer from them."

She stopped so suddenly I honestly though she'd walked into a pole. She said, "Wait. What? Seriously?"

So I explained about the impromptu fashion show she'd put on with Angela at the mall and how the regional manager was going to try and set her up with an audition.

She looked at me and said, "You poor girl. Don't worry though, you _are_ pretty, and once you fill out a bit you'll have a _phenominal _figure. And your hair is amazing, how do you fit all this under that wig?" It looked like she was going to try and reach out to touch my hair, but she stopped once she realized what she was doing. I probably would have let her though. It's kind of like Dillon taking photos only more objectifying, like she sees me as a doll or something.

Anyway, I answered her question with a grin and, "It's my only super power."

She laughed and said, "I miss having long hair. I kept it cut short while I was over seas and just got used to having it short. I don't know if I could go back." Then she shook her head and said, "Point is, I'm sure if you just keep trying you'll get your man eventually. But if you start getting impatient and want some suggestions feel free to ask."

I smiled and said, "Why are you trying so hard to help me?"

She smirked at me and said, "Because if there's one girl in this whole city that deserves a good dicking it's you."

And to think I was worried about confiding in this woman.

By then we'd circled around the block and were coming back to Atomic Comics. Dave was standing outside looking around and he jogged over when he saw us and said, "Todd said someone walked off with you. I-" and then he stopped, and I think he decided to say something else because he kept looking at her, "I didn't believe him, but, here you are...safe and sound so, uh...you want to introduce me to your friend?"

I think he recognized her a lot faster than I did, but he was assuming she didn't know who he was. She held out her hand and said, "Alice."

So I said, "She was trying to talk me into ditching you as a patrol partner. She was making some convincing arguments. You're gonna have to step up your game if you want to stay my partner."

Dave's expression was priceless. He didn't even know where to start with that. It took him about a minute to pull himself together and he finally said, "Well...then I'll just team with...uhm...shit..." Then he snapped his fingers and said, "The Guardian!"

And my eyes shot wide open and I said, "You wouldn't dare."

And so he said, "Well I'm sure as hell not going to downgrade."

I glared at him and said, "Are you implying that he's _better_ than me?"

I don't know what Dave would have come back with because Alice chimed in then with, "Aww. You two are so cute. You fight like an old married couple." complete with tilted head resting on folded hands. Then she said, "Well, it's been fun meeting you two oh-oh-cee, but I only stopped in here for a quick cup of coffee and need to get going."

So we said our goodbyes and went back into the store. Before we got to the table he asked how she figured us out, and I just shrugged and said, "I recognized her and I just felt like saying hi."

I don't think Dave believed me, but he didn't call me on my lie either.

From there on the rest of the day was unremarkable. We hung out a bit longer, we went home, I did homework, I worked out, and I texted Angela and Jessi. Woo.


	125. Chapter 125

_**Mako's Message:** Wow. I gotta say I'm really surprised by some of the reactions to last chapter. Mostly I'm surprised that some people think the reviews page is for discussions. I don't have any problem with you discussing this story amongst yourselves, but we have a forum for that. And Private Messages. Please register and use those. Don't clutter up the review page._

_Also, I really, really wish I could call this the end of an Act. But it's not. It is...an end to a lot of Mindy's pining and focus on Dave(Hopefully) and a start to a lot more...kick-assery(again, hopefully)._

_This does however mark the start of an official break of sorts. I have other stories that need attention, as well as a need for an excuse to put this aside and at least _attempt_ to handle some real life problems._

_Teasers after the chapter._

* * *

Ya know, sometimes I don't know what I'm complaining about.

First of all, I'm a totally awesome super hero. One of, if not THE most popular in the city, if not THE WORLD.

I live in a nice house with Marcus who is about as good a parent as you can get. He worries about me, and will chew me out if he thinks I'm being a dumbass, but does his best to take care of me and supports me in my "hobbies", even if they are a "little" dangerous.

I have two great friends, who accepted me as the, admittedly, socially retarded girl that I am when everyone else didn't want to go anywhere near me.

I have Dillon, who at least let's me know that not every boy who's attracted to me is a creepy asshat, and actually likes and respects me enough to be my friend even though I rejected him.

I have White Mage, who's willing to teach me things I have yet to learn but doesn't treat me like a child and recognizes me as an equal.

I even have Riley, who gives me a goal to surpass.

And most of all, I have a best friend. A best friend who is right there by my side when I need him the most. Who defends me at every turn. Who is willing to put me ahead of himself. But also there to keep my ego in check and remind me when I'm being stupid, or childish.

A best friend who can tell I'm depressed, so he comes by the house after getting off work early to cheer me up, by bringing two of the biggest sundaes they have. And when I ask if this could get any better, says, "Yeah, we could eat these while watching a movie."

And when I ask, "What movie?"

He says, in the most adorkable way possible, "Only the greatest action movie ever!" and pulls Commando from behind his back.

Who sits down on the couch with his arm over the back in an obvious invitation for me to sit close to him, and when I do puts his arm around me. And doesn't complain when I blatantly and shamelessly steal some of his brownie.

Who doesn't move when I fall asleep on him until I wake up on my own hours later.

He may not be my boyfriend, but I'll take what I can get.

For now.

* * *

_**More Message: **These are...just lines that hint at stuff you'll hopefully look forward to seeing..._

1:_"I really didn't like the way this girl was looking at me"_

2:_"Dave, what are you doing?"_

3:_"Go on, tell them how we have fun every night."_

4:_"So...about that armor."_

5:_"There's a new 'gang' in town."  
_

6:_"We're going _WHERE_?"_

7:_"I heard a rumor that you can fight."_

8:_"I thought you liked having little girls in your room."_

9:_"I can't believe this happened."_

10:_ "I think we both know the lack of armor wont make a difference."_


	126. Chapter 126

_**Mako's Message:** Hey guys. I want to apologize for the hiatus. I thought it would let me focus on more important things, but instead it deprived me of any and all forward inertia, and it took me awhile to bring myself back to being able to function at all. I also want to apologize in advance for however long it will take to get the next chapter up, as I wanted to have it ready and waiting before I posted this one(for obvious reasons), but trying to describe something massive and chaotic through second hand narration is proving more difficult than I expected.  
_

_So, I just want to thank you all for reading and sticking with me. _

_

Don't you hate it when something you've been looking for is right under you nose? Especially when it's been there _the whole fucking time_? I mean, it's not like we didn't know that some of the students at our school had signed up with that motherfucker.

Of course, last year it wouldn't have been as big a thing. We didn't realize this was a _problem_ then. High-school kids always end up getting into gangs and shit. And this year, well, between Dave and Homecoming(and maybe me being on the cheer team) the school had more interesting things to gossip about.

Now though we're finally hearing about this cool place to hang out. Where they have free games, music, food, and alcohol if you want it. Hell, whatever you want, they got it. And, there are like, no rules. So what if known supervillians have been seen there? It's all free and unsupervised! The ultimate teen hang out!

Of course, this is all rumors. I asked Marcus about it, and after awhile he admitted that the Police had heard something about it, but whenever they stopped by to check it out they were never able to find anything.

So, it looks like Dave and I will be going to check the place out ourselves. Well, Samantha Genovese and...whatever Dave decides to call his disguise. I think I'll call it Douchbag Dave until he names it cause that's what it fucking looks like. We got him a fake...douchbag beard and these bright green contact lenses, and then he slicked his hair back and tied a bandana over it. Top it off with a t-shirt and a pair of pants that are too big for him and you'd never know it was Dave.

This will be our first real undercover work. Should be fun.


	127. Chapter 127

_**Mako's Message: **What is this...I don't even...  
So...I rewrote this thing like, four times, and it could probably be better, but if I waited until it was as good as it could get get I'd never post it, so here it is!  
And...yeah..._

_Enjoy! -Runs-_

* * *

That was fucking nuts.

Okay, first, we have _not_ been giving Chirs enough credit.

Everything he's been doing. Everything we thought was just for shits and giggles. His gang just having fun. It was all for recruitment.

Somehow he got himself an old warehouse, probably one of the last in the city, and legitimately too if what Marcus said was true, but since the place was like lord of the fucking flies (…huh. High School English is good for something after all) I wouldn't be surprised if they were paying people off, blackmailing them, or just flat out threatening them. That said...the place is awesome. I hate to admit it, I really fucking do because I think a little bit of my self respect died with that statement, but it was.

He had all sorts of arcade games set up, and even some flatscreen TVs with consoles hooked up. There was a whole bank of computers set up in one corner. They had an indoor skate park set up. An area was set up to be half convenience store and half snack bar. Kids kept going in and just taking sodas out of the coolers and chips, snack cakes, candy bars, anything you could fucking want off the shelves and just going back to whatever because there wasn't cash register in sighte. Just a guy going around keeping the place in order. And to top it off, there where comics _everywhere_.

And not just any comics. The Motherfucker comics. And The Great White comics, Hammer comics, Hard Gay comics, and other comics starring assholes I didn't recognize like Bladez.

And the place was fucking _packed_.

And why wouldn't it be? Free food and drinks, free games, free internet, and there were even bins of free portable gameing systems, MP3 players, cell phones, CDs, DVDs, and video games. Oh, and NO RULES.

Not shitting you. Some kid got pissed when he lost a game and smashed a TV and the only people that cared where the ones who were playing with him who got up and started beating the crap out of him. There were people just making out and shit in dark corners, between the arcade games, or even just right out in the fucking open. Hell, I think I even saw some kid at the computers beating off.

And that was just _the ground floor_.

The next floor up was more of the same, except that there was a hole in the floor over the skate park on the first floor(with railings fortunately), but it was mostly older kids. My guess is that the kids my age didn't feel like getting too far from the exit. No one seemed to think anything of me being there up there, though, "Samantha" does look like she's older than I am.

The next floor up though was a bit different. It was set up more like a common room at a college dorm or something, and it was a lot less crowded, maybe a couple dozen people at most. And the people that were there were also older than the ones one the lower floors. Like, college age. They were sitting around either playing games or just talking. What really caught my eye was a girl maybe a little older than me sitting with a guy who kept whispering in her ear and eventually pulled his cock out and pushed her down to start blowing him. One of the guys noticed and started cheering her on, and after a minute another came up behind her and started pulling her pants down. She hadn't really objected when the first guy had pushed her down on his dick, but now she was resisting, but the first guy held her head down and the second guy managed to get her pants off enough to start fucking her.

It was really hard to not kill them all right there. I mean, it would have been easy to kill those two, and maybe even a third before the rest even knew what was going on, but I was neck deep in enemy territory, I only had my one knife, and who knew how many of the cunts here were Cunts and would try and fight me? I couldn't do anything then, but I memorized their faces so when we go back to exterminate those fuckers I'll make sure they die slowly.

That was when one of these guys that I hadn't realized until then were acting as...guards. Or something. Enforcers? Yeah, that sounds right. One of these enforcer guys came up behind me and said "You still sure you wanna be up here little girl?"

So I turned around and grabbed him by the balls and told him, "I go where I wanna go," and shoved him to the floor.

Another of those enforcer types started laughing at him and I heard him say something like, "Ha, I like em spicy."

I can't wait to go back and wipe all those fuckers out. I was seriously tempted to put a little sway in my hips to try and lure them somewhere their bodies wouldn't be noticed, but there was still more of the building to check out.

Halfway up the next flight of stairs there was a guy who watched me walk past him over his sunglasses, and called after me, "What's up there isn't for little girls," but other than that he made no effort to stop me from getting to the fourth floor.

Which was a strip club.

I have no idea if the girls dancing were being paid by Chris or if they were just voluntarily being whores, but they were there, on different stages around the floor, in basically nothing and getting dollar bills thrown at them. They were probably doing it on their own, since nothing else about the place seemed to be "official" (even the bar wasn't being run by anyone and people were just going up and getting whatever the fuck they wanted) and I saw a few girls I recognized from school fooling around on one of the poles off in a corner that were obviously smashed out of their fucking minds.

Not that I think Chris gives a shit about laws, just that the whole place seemed to be set up around the idea of, "Here's some toys. Have fun."

The steps leading up to the next floor were gated off, and when I tried to open them was the first time anybody tried to actually stop me from doing something. Every enforcer on the floor surrounded me, and a couple shoved their way between me and the gate and said, "Fifth floor is off limits. VIPs only."

So I figure that's were Chris is.

I really wanted to check out the upper floors, but I just couldn't find a way past the guards. I seriously considered climbing out a window and trying to scale the building, but even if I managed to climb out a window without anyone noticing, there's no guarantee the windows one the floor above would open, and I'm not Spider-Man so trying to climb around outside peeking in windows is just not going to work.

So after finding no way to go any higher I decided to go back down and try to find Dave and see if he found anything different.

While I was heading back through the third floor though, someone caught my attention. This blond, biker looking chick was sitting with her arm around one of the guys playing games, and she was staring right at me. I really didn't like the way this girl was looking at me. It was almost like she was staring into my soul, seeing the real me. We kept staring at each other until she suddenly smirked at me and then turned and started whispering into the guy's ear.

What was really weird though is that she actually seemed a little older than the "target demographic" of the place. She looked like she might have been around thirty. I don't know if she was working with Chris or was just there for free booze or maybe to pick up a young stud, but she worries me.

And then, when I got to the second floor... a dream almost came true.

I was looking over the railing at the lower floor when I was grabbed and pulled into a corner, where the person wrapped their arms around me and across my stomach from behind and started whispering, "It's me. It's me. Don't hurt me," in my ear.

And, honestly, he was just in time to save himself from all kinds of hurt.

His hands teased at the edge of my shirt and his lips were brushed against my neck as I said, "Dave, what are you doing?"

"Trying to blend in, you can be pissed off if you want just be pissed off later" he said.

He didn't need to worry though, I was too busy trying not to melt to be pissed off at him.

He started whispering about what he'd seen, including Whitey showing up and being welcomed back by some other guy and heading upstairs, but I didn't hear a damn thing he said because his lips kept brushing against my ear and neck as he talked. I couldn't even talk back because I could barely breathe, hell, I couldn't have moved if I wanted to and my heart was beating three or four hundred times what it's supposed to because his hands kept running across my stomach and playing with the edge of my shirt and the waist band of my pants. He didn't touch any skin though, not intentionally at least, and it made me want to scream out of frustration.

Eventually he let go of me and the first thing I did was gasp out, "Why did you stop?"

But I don't think he heard me because he just said, "We should get out of here."

It took me a minute to get myself back together and follow him out, where I had to ask him to repeat what he'd been trying to tell me while he was getting me all wound up. The bastard.

We're going to tell Justice Forever about all this at the next meeting. We'll probably need their help taking that place down. They have a lot more potential manpower than we ever expected.

Heh. It'll be fun to have a real team operation that isn't volunteer work. This is going to be so awesome. It'll be like that time Dave told me about when they busted up that underage prostitution ring, only two hundred times better.

Oh, I forgot to mention the sign over the entrance. In big multicolored letters it says, "The Rainbow Factory" and under that in smaller black letters it says, "Where Dreams Come True"


	128. Chapter 128

_**Mako's Message:** I...Hmm... Well, here's a chapter... I...should get to work on the next one..._

* * *

Dave kicked me in the face today.

He was horrified, of course, but despite the fact that it hurt like a motherfucker and I had blood pouring out my nose I couldn't help smiling. Dave had never been able to land a solid blow like that before. He knew that, and he never expected to actually manage to land a spinning back kick, so he didn't hold back at all.

And that's how I learned that Dave hits really, really hard.

But it wasn't just pride in my trainee that made me smile, it was how he freaked out after he felt his foot connect with my face, and how he doted on me, trying to clean up the blood, and getting me ice, and spewing a constant stream of apologies.

When he finally sat down on the couch next to me after running out of things to do for me, he'd finally shut up and just kept looking at me with this guilty and worried expression, and then he asked, "Is there anything else I can do for you?"

I could think of a few things he could do for me, but my head hurt too much to do most of them, but if I could have justified asking for a full body massage I would have. Instead I pulled the ice pack off and said, "Kiss it and make it better".

Which may have been a mistake from the way Dave cringed. I looked at him and said, "Is it that bad?"

He was still trying to not look at it when he nodded a little and said, "Yeah."

So after that I decided I had to go see this myself and when I looked at myself in the mirror... I was kinda pissed, because it _was_ bad. I'm probably going to have to take off school tomorrow because I don't think I'll be able to cover this up. Angela might be able to, or Jessi, they're both really good with makeup, but I couldn't exactly call either of them up to help with this. And if I have to take school off because I can't hide it, that means Marcus is going to see it, and _he's_ going to be SUPER pissed and I'm gonna have to listen to him lecture me on shit I already know and he'll probably try and say I should put the costume away again and blah blah fucking blah. God tomorrow is going to suck.

Anyway, Dave came up and stood behind me while I was looking at it, and he cringed again, said he was sorry again, and then leaned over and kissed me just under my eye. I tried to enjoy it despite it making me wince. He laughed a little at that, which was good, because I was proud of him for managing to land the kick. I don't know if it was dumb luck, or if he's just getting better at predicting where I was going to be, but he pulled it off with spectacular results.

And solid evidence of Dave gaining levels in ass-kickery wasn't the only good thing to happen tonight. Just the most painfully vivid.

We stopped into that cafe again tonight. I love when we get to go there. They have this banana's fosters french toast, that's just amazing, and it's just the pick me up I need to get me through rest of the night. I wish we could go there every night. But is if we did, I'd probably get sick of it, and I sure as shit don't want that to happen. I want it taste like sex every time I have it.

Not like I'm ever going to find out what sex is really like at this rate anyway.

Anyway, so we're sitting there and we're working on a map of The Factory for when we make our attack proposal at the next Justice Forever meeting while we ate, and then Biker Knight walks in.

Dave pointed him out to me, since I had my back to him, and I turned to see him standing at the counter, and the woman asked, "Your usual?"

And he just nodded and she called back the order, and I just sat there wondering how to approach this. Yelling out and waving him over would just be totally uncool, but how else was I supposed to get his attention?

Then he looks over at us and Dave nods at him and he nods back, and then he just starts walking over.

I make space for him and he sits down next to me and pulls out a note pad and starts writing on it. He holds it up for us and it says, "Nice place huh?"

And Dave says, "Uh. Yeah."

Then he starts writing again and holds up, "Busy night?" and points at the map I was working on.

And then I asked, "Can't you talk?"

Then he starts writing again, "You wouldn't be able to hear me through my helmet and I'm not taking it off."

And Dave says, "Oh. That makes sense."

And he writes, "So what're you working on?"

And I said, "We're working on a map of The Rainbow Factory. You know that place?"

And he wrote, "I know of it."

So I told him about how we were working on a plan to show the rest of Justice Forever about how to take it down.

He looked over the map for a second then wrote, "When are you doing this?"

Dave shrugged and said, "We dunno yet. We're still working on it."

And then one of the waitresses brought a bag over and Biker Knight handed over some cash then wrote, "Let me know when you're doing it. You're going to need all the help you can get." and left.

So, even if we can't sell this idea to the team, at least we've got one more hero with us.


	129. Chapter 129

_**Mako's** **Message: **Go. Shoo. Get out there you goofy little chapter you and make the fans happy. Or die trying._

* * *

I don't know why we even bother trying to bring The Guardian in on these things. He's like Batman, only super fucking pretentious. And to think I once wanted that guy on my superhero team.

He actually told us we should leave it to the police.

Honestly I'm not sure if the guy is idealistic or just stupid anymore.

I told him that the cops already knew about it and hadn't been able to do anything about it.

He just kept insisting that, "This is a job for the Police. For a SWAT Team." and that, "It wasn't our place to be above the law."

Stars said, "Actually, that's exactly what we're here for."

And then he really flew off the handle and slammed his fists down on the table and yelled, "You aren't even giving the police a fucking chance! You're just going to go in there and start killing people!"

That was when Insect-Guy raised his hand and said, "Actually, I'm a cop, and I can tell you that we aren't going to touch that place. Half the force has had their address, license plates numbers, and photos of our familes mailed to us. No one is going to touch him at home. Arresting those level zero thugs he uses to spread chaos and mayhem is the best you're going to get."

So, that's when he finally gave up and stormed out saying, "You're no better than he is."

And I yelled after him, "Oh, yeah, cause you've got a magic friendship ring that turns bad guys into good guys!"

Hehe. That might actually be fun, "Taste the rainbow, motherfucker!"

"No, don't friend me! Nooo! It buuuuurns!"

Wouldn't be as satisfying as stabbing them through the chest though.

Seriously though, if he wasn't the best fighter in the city, after me of course, we wouldn't even bother trying to talk him into joining us. I swear to god.

Biker Knight at least just stood there in the background, not saying anything. Not that I expected him too anymore. He at least realizes that this is our team and our plan, and is either going to go along with it or isn't. I didn't think he'd pass though, since he already said he wanted to help before he even knew what the plan was.

Anyway, the rest of the team seemed eager to cut this shit off at the source, but were also pretty nervous about it. Not that I blame them. I don't think it's going to be as bad as the expect it to be though. Sure, there were probably a few hundred people there when he scouted the place out, but I think about ninety percent of them are going to run for their lives once the shooting starts. I'm honestly thinking that there's a fifty percent chance that anyone besides the enforcer types are going to offer any resistance. At least on the first two floors. Third and fourth floors will probably have some people who think they're badass enough to take us on though.

The place is fairly open though, there aren't many walls at least, which is good for mobility, not so good for cover. Or strategy. Well, for us at least. Chris, seems to be playing to his strengths, forcing anyone who tries to take the place to fight in the open, where his presumably superior numbers will give him the advantage. Of course, that's assuming he actually planned that when he designed the place.

So, our plan of attack is pretty much to split into two teams, one for each stairwell, and just hit them as fast and as hard as we can.

* * *

PS: I am aware that it's not called SWAT in NY.


	130. Chapter 130

_**Mako's Message:**_ _"Deep inside you everyday, you do not know I will not say, your underground makes me ill, if I __don't do it no one will, I can see what you mean, it's always harder than I seems, don't blame yourself for breaking me, cause you just went and set me free, then I set you down, and shut your mouth, and show you what I always see, there is a small place for you, where all your hopes and dreams come true, You move around, my world at will, watch out cause I'm coming to kill!_

_So motherfucker come and play, come on then, motherfucker come and play, you're broken up, cause you're breaking down, and very soon you'll hit the ground, you pulled your stunt, your time has passed, the world you made has kicked your ass!" _Sucked In - Jerk

* * *

You know that feeling you get when you do something that makes you feel like you're gonna die? It's awesome isn't it? I'm still floating on the rush from tonight. I can't really enjoy it though.

I mean, sure, it started out fine. We met up at headquarters, went over our plan one last time, and loaded ourselves into the van to head over. Felt pretty good, honestly. It felt like we were in a movie. Well, it always kinda feels like we're in a super hero, but this felt like an action film. The team of badasses heading off to final climactic battle.

It made me wish I could kick my feet up on dash a light up a cigar.

Not that I'd ever smoke before something like this even if I was a smoker, it just felt appropriate.

So we pull up just before the road to the Factory, and we wait. Maybe a minute later a beat up car pulls up coming from the other direction. The car flashes it's lights at us and we flash back, and then I get teased by being able to tell that Biker Knight waited until then to put his helmet on, but not being able to see his damn face.

So then we pull onto the road with Biker Knight behind us and roll right up to the front door. Col. Stars and I hop out just before the back doors open and Kick-Ass, Inssect-Guy, White Mage, Shield, The Gentleman, and Sting jump out. Biker Knight pulls up behind us steps out, but then leans back in and pulls out this kite shield and straps it to his arm before nodding at us.

I look over everybody, they all nod at me, and then I see a group of three kids, maybe a little older than me, that had frozen on their way up the road. When they see me looking at them they turn and run their asses off down the road.

It made me smile. After all, it seemed like a good omen at the time.

So Shield and Stars pulled open the doors, and I walked in. Barely anyone noticed me at first, which was fine since we didn't want chaos any sooner than was absolutely necessary. Kick-Ass came in right behind me, while the rest of the team came in and moved immediately to the sides. People where starting to take notice at that point, but it was more, "Wait, what the hell?" and less, "Omgrnforyurlife"

That came after I raised my gun and shot one of the enforcers in the head.

Now, I'm a naturally talented shot. Always have been. But even I had to be real careful here. I was only able to use one gun since I had to use two hands because after that first shot, trying to hit a target was like threading a needle. It was nothing like Times Square. Then, the good guys were outnumbered by at least three to one, so picking targets and not hitting friendlies was fucking cake compared to this. It was like a 30-to-1 kid to enforcer ratio.

So people are freaking out and Kick-Ass is yelling for everybody to get out and Mage, Gentleman, Sting, and Insect-Guy are trying to get people through the door without them trampling each other and I'm trying to nail as many hostiles as I can, both to keep the sense of urgency up and to make our lives easier once we start heading up.

It didn't take long before things calmed down, even if it was just because the only people left where the ones who were cowering under tables or between arcade cabinets or wherever they could find some sort of hole to crawl into. Of course, that's also when the Cunts decided to make their counter attack.

It wasn't anything special, just a few Cunts who took cover and waited until I stopped shooting to rush us. We waved for the rest of the group to head up the steps while Kick-Ass and I finished off the stragglers before catching up.

I didn't use my blades though, just because it would have been too easy otherwise. I mean, yeah, I could have taken the four that came for me in ten seconds flat, but it's not often I get to do this, and I didn't want it to be over so quickly. Besides, I need some real practice now and then and it wasn't like these guys were any threat.

They did keep me too busy to see what Kick-Ass was doing though, which sucked. All I know is that I heard bones breaking, bodies getting slammed into things, and a variety of cries of pain. None of which were Kick-Ass', so I guess he did pretty good.

It did make me miss my butterfly sword though. I like using a staff, but I don't think I'll ever get used to blunt weapons.

Once I was sure that my share of the dipshit brigade was good and concussed I looked over at Kick-Ass who was looking around the room and said, "I think that's the last of them."

I said, "Awesome," as I reloaded my gun, "Let's catch up before we miss all the fun."

We didn't need to worry though. The others had hit the first real resistance of the night and were brawling with about two dozen Cunts. It was interesting to see that some of them took the time to put a mask on. Kinda have to admire their dedication to the image.

So, we got to the second floor just in time to see Col. Stars nailing a guy in the face before throwing him over the railing. He turned and said, "Oh, don't mind us, we're just having a bit of fun. You go on ahead and we'll catch up in a minute,"

I wasn't so sure we should though, since they were outnumbered, not by much, but still out numbered and this one guy was giving Insect-Guy and The Gentleman some trouble. But then insect-Guy got him into a wrist luck and The Gentleman nailed him in the face with the butt of his cane so I decided they had things under control and nodded for Kick-Ass to follow me and I headed up the stairs.

And almost got my head split in half.

I wasn't so much surprised as pissed off that I was once again looking at six foot three inches and two-hundred twenty pounds(I read the police report) of aussie skin-head with a sword almost as big as he was. I kinda-but-not-really stumbled dodging his big ass sword, but I pulled my guns and unloaded on the motherfucker. I wasn't fast enough though and he was able to get that monstrosity in between me and him and use it as a shield.

As soon as he heard the guns click on empty chambers he leapt down the steps and kicked me right in the chest. It was my own fault. I shouldn't have tried to reload when he was that close

So he knocked me clear off the steps and I hit harder than I would have liked, but I was able to roll out of the way when he tried to jump down the steps and stomp me without any problem. Then he pointed at me as he stepped towards me and said, "You're not the cape I really wanna carve up, but you're the one who's here," and he brought the sword up over his head and swung it down at me. Dodging that wasn't a problem; it was big, slow, and telegraphed to hell and back. The problem was that it never hit the floor.

Instead of letting it hit the floor, he angled it off to the side and twisted around, keeping the momentum from the downswing going and bringing it around into a horizontal slash that I was just not ready for.

Luckily Shield was able to jump in. Yeah, I got smashed between Shield and the guard rail, but I wasn't going to complain cause if that blade had hit me... It would have been bad.

So Shield shoved him back, and sharkboy elbowed him in the face, and then Insect-Guy came running up and clubbed sharkboy over the head and got kicked in the gut for his trouble. But then Shield kicked sharky and Insect-Guy stabbed him in the shoulder with those spines on his gloves, then said, "We got this, keep going."

Kick-Ass and I ran for the other steps, passed Mage and Stars fighting with hammer time, Biker Knight fighting some ass hat I hadn't seen before who had a pair of curved knives, and Sting who was picking apart rainbow bright.

Next floor was a bit of a problem. It was full of good old-fashioned mafia types taking cover behind all the couches, chairs and pillars and everyone one of them had a gun pointing at the stairs.

A few of them opened fire as soon as they saw us, but I saw them first and was crouched down on the steps and out of site before they even pulled the trigger..

Kick-Ass crawled up next to me and asked, "So what's the plan here."

I just said, "Kill them." and popped up and returned fire. When they ducked back undercover I ran up and took cover beside the doorway. Since they were all shooting at me, Kick-Ass popped up and slung one of his baton sheaths at them and ran to take cover on the other side of the door. The sheath hit a guy right in the temple and he dropped like a pole-axed ox. I smirked over at Kick-Ass and said, "You've been practicing that haven't you?"

He half smiled and shrugged before flinching back as bullets started taking chunks out of his cover.

I peaked around the corner and barely had time to relocate my targets before bullets started flying again. When they stopped shooting I tried again and got the same result so I just pointed the gun around the corner and fired blind.

I heard one guy yelp, so I know I hit at least one of them, but I didn't make a noticeable difference in the amount of lead coming out way.

Then Kick-Ass said, "Okay, so, River Tam you are not," whatever that means.

Kick-Ass tried throwing another baton sheath but the guy he was aiming at ducked it easily.

I was about ready to say fuck it and rush in guns blazing when Shield and Sting caught up with us. Shield was in the lead and for good reason; his armor is heavy and he's really not particularly agile but his armor takes bullets even better than Daddy's so he barely flinched when bullets started bouncing off him. Sting took cover behind him while he brought up his big ass shield and started shooting back with this wrist mounted crossbow. I need to remember to ask him what he coated the bolts with because he hit one guy in the shoulder and the other in the leg but they might as well have been shot in the heart because they dropped like rocks. Actually, I don't think they'd have gone down that fast if he _had_ shot them in the heart.

So then shield drops down into a three-point, takes three quick breaths, and launches himself into the room.

It was fucking awesome. He charges in, bullets are bouncing off his armor, he lowers his shoulder and hits one of the couches they're using for cover and the without even breaking stride swings the arm with the shield on it forward and just knocks the thing aside like it was nothing and keeps on going

It was like seeing The Juggernaut in real life.

Okay, so he almost ran into a pillar, but it was still cool.

Anyway, since been nice enough to plowed an opening for us and most of them were still trying to shoot him, we took full advantage.

I gotta admit I don't think I've ever seen Kick-Ass move that fast before. It almost makes me think there's something to his theory about not wearing armor making him a better fighter. Almost.

So once we started cutting into these guys, and their attention was turned away from the steps, Biker Knight, Mage, The Gentleman, and Stars came rushing in and we started really fucking these guys up.

Except for this one guy.

This guy pissed me off so badly. He was probably the youngest guy there and he was a total fucking pussy and kept running away, but he made me feel like I was one of the nameless thugs in a Jackie Chan movie because I just _could not_ catch this fucking son-of-a-bitch. He was always one step ahead of me and I was really starting to take this personally when he bailed out a window to get away from me. There was an 18-wheeler under the window so it was only a two story fall instead of three, but I was still surprised that not only did he not break anything in the landing, but he managed to hop off _that_ and haul his pansy-ass outta there before I could shoot him.

All the other thugs was either dead, broken, or bleeding out when I looked back, but was standing in one of the stairwells looking over the railing and yelled that there were more coming up.

Stars yelled for me and Kick-Ass to get our asses up to the next floor while they kept them off our backs.

He ran with us to the steps, pulled a gun and started firing down the steps. I know Dave said that he'd used an unloaded gun to bluff people before, so I don't know if he was using blanks, rubber bullets, or the real thing this time, but it was making the guys on the steps stop and rethink their options so I guess it doesn't really matter.

Now, the two stairwells only went up to the third floor. A third set of steps started on that floor and were gated off. Fortunately there was no one there to give us shit except some people freaking out and crying behind the bar.

The gate was locked of course, but I've got a utility belt for a reason and I had it picked in about two minutes. I probably could have had it open faster but I haven't been practicing, I should just get a can of like, aerosol liquid nitrogen or something, so I could just freeze the lock and then break it.

When were were halfway to the next floor we heard people coming up the stairs, and then Biker Knight comes running over and slams the gate shut and locks it just before a half dozen guys come running over and slammed into Biker Knight. It looked really bad and Kick-Ass and I started back down the steps, but then he kicked one of them off him and shoved the rest of them back before turning his head and pointing for us to keep going then turning back just in time to block a punch from one and kick another in the gut.

Since he seemed to have everything under control we kept on moving.

The next floor started with a hallway going in both directions, with a bunch of doors. They were all either locker rooms or lounges though. Right in front of the steps was a big set of double doors though, and there was a short hall through them that lead into a gymnasium were another fucking ghost-of-motherfuckers-past was waiting for us.

I heard the whine of it revving up and if I'd stopped to think about it I'd have recognized it for what it was, but I just really wasn't expecting someone to have a minigun.

And I was expecting to see that bitch from the bar again even less.

We ducked back just as the stream of bullets met the wall. I'm not even joking. I felt one of the bullets tear through my suit. It was _literally_ a hair away from hitting me.

We stepped back as the bullets tore into the wall like a laser beam. The wall even started to fucking catch fire.

Then that bitch-whore of an amazon stopped firing and called out, "Come out little babies! Time to play!" He voice was all fucked up, but I guess that's what happens when you survive getting stabbed through the fucking throat.

I peaked around the corner again and just managed to see that she had the minigun on a tripod behind a wall of sandbags before she let loose again.

So I said, "Fuck this shit." and threw a frag grenade around the corner. And I threw that son-of-a-bitch hard because I wanted it right up against her little bunker or it wouldn't do shit. I heard her swear just before it blew.

When I checked to see how much damage I did, I managed to get a good look at the room, and it was a lot like the gym at highschool, even had fucking basketball hoops, but there was also a bunch of mats, weight lifting equipment, punching bags, and shit shoved up against the far wall. I also managed to blow a hole right in the middle of her little barricade.

I didn't see her though, or the gun, so I tossed a smoke grenade in.

She opened fire again, but not at us. I'm guessing she was trying to shoot the grenade before it got too close to her, and I think she hit it because it blew up before it should have. She started swearing and Kick-Ass and I ran out into the room. He went right, I went left and started shooting. She opened fire on me and I dropped onto my knees and slid across the floor as the bullets swept right over my head.

Kick-Ass threw one of his batons at her and she didn't really dodge it, she just sort of twisted her shoulder out of the way as she turned the gun on Kick-Ass. He dropped to the ground and curled into a ball as he slid across the floor, just sliding the stream of bullets.

But it did let me get two clean shots on her. She was wearing kevlar though, so it didn't do much more than make her stumble. But it was an opening and I took it.

I leapt what was left of the barricade and kicked the gun as hard as I could because I wanted that shit out of play as soon as possible. I didn't want her hitting me with that any more than I wanted her shooting me with it.

I followed up with my staff(didn't want to take the time to separate it), but she caught it and ripped it out of my hands, tossed it aside and said, "You rely on weapons too much."

So I said, "You're the one with a fucking minigun" and kicked her in her cunt. I tried to punch her while she was keeled over, but she blocked it and hit me in my stomach then followed that up with a kick to the head. After that it's all just a gigantic blur of pain.

The next thing I remember is picking myself up and seeing her choking Dave on the other side of the room, so I did the only thing there was to do.

I grabbed my swords and rammed them both right through her sides until they came out the other.

I twisted the blades a few times and just did whatever I could think of to make the holes bigger without pulling out while Kick-Ass staggered to his feet. When she was finally on the ground and not moving anymore Kick-Ass said, "Well...let's keep moving."

I told him I needed a minute, and when he asked if I was okay I said, "Yeah, I'm fine. I just want to make sure she stays dead this time." and started cutting her head off. Once I made sure the bitch wasn't coming back I followed Kick-Ass through another set of doors into another hall. There was nothing there but an elevator. Which was locked, of course, so we went back and searched the body.

Luckily she had the keys on her, on her because I don't know what we would have done if she hadn't.

So, up we go again, and I'm getting a little worried because I'm on my last clips and I don't remember how many shots I fired. But it's not like a lack of ammo was going to make me turn around and I still had a belt full of throwing knives anyway.

When the doors and we step out into this huge room that looked like they turned two floors into one. There was this huge fish tank with a catwalk over it on one side of the room and right in front of us there were steps leading up to another level, with a table on either side of them but no chairs, and then continuing up to another level that had this gaudy fucking throne on it.

And then we hear him say, "So is everything finally taken care of? Because I swear if-" and then he comes around the side of the pyramid platform, sees us and yells, "Fuck!" then runs back around and out of sight.

So we run after him but stop at the corner, and we hear, "I told you that bitch was a waste of money."

And then the motherfucker yells, "Just shut up and grab a gun!"

So, I don't know what Kick-Ass heard, but I heard, "We're unarmed! Come kill us now!" so I leapt out and ran around the rest of the platform, to see the motherfucker and fat fuck taking cover behind a counter in a kitchen.

Yeah, a kitchen. The other side of the pyramid platform looked like...well, what any teenagers place would look like if they had enough money to buy whatever the fuck they wanted.

So fat fuck had a semi-automatic shotgun with a drum barrel and was aiming it just over the counter with just his head poking over it too and had us pinned down since he kept firing the thing like he had infinite ammo.

I was too close to the motherfucker to let that stop me though, so I ran out and dove behind the couch, which held up surprisingly well to the gunfire. It must have been reinforced just in case.

Kick-Ass ran out when the gunfire followed me, but that's when the motherfucker joined the fight dual-wielding uzis.

The problem with someone dual-wielding uzis, is that the fact it doesn't matter that they won't be able to aim properly, because they'll be spraying so many goddamn bullets they're gonna hit something anyway.

But fate favors the daring and shit so I popped out from cover long enough to fire off a couple rounds. I know I hit fat fuck in the shoulder, and I might have hit the motherfucker, but if I did he was wearing armor since he just got right back up. Fat fuck kept firing one handed, but he had to keep adjusting his grip after each shot so Kick-Ass took the opportunity to throw one of his baton blades at them. He missed, but it gave me an opening to move in.

The motherfucker also had to reload then, so Kick-Ass tried to rush in as well, but fat fuck managed to unload a few rounds in his general direction, so he dove for cover as well, which left both of us hiding on the other side of the kitchen island the fucker brothers were hiding behind.

That's when I heard the motherfucker say, "Fuck this shit. We're getting outta here." and the two of them started backing towards another door, fat fuck firing the shotgun over the motherfucker's shoulder while he kept spraying the room with those uzis. Then I heard him say, "fuck you you little psycho bitch cunt" which was kinda hilarious coming from him. I tried to get another shot or two off, but he slammed his fist on a button on the wall and a metal door slammed down between us.

And then a fuck-ton of grenades fell from the ceiling.

If we'd actually taken the time to think, we probably would have been blown to pieces because our reflexive reaction(dive for cover), shouldn't have worked. But we didn't think about it, we just dove for a chair and flipped it over us and lucked out to not have flipped it onto a grenade.

Not like we made it out unscathed though.

But whatever the motherfucker had done to his furniture to make it good cover managed to slow down the shrapnel to the point that it didn't get much more than skin deep.

Still hurt like a bitch though.

When we crawled out the first thing Dave said was, "So...about that armor..."

Which just made me laugh my ass off, since nothing that we went up against that would have made him wish he was wearing body armor would have been stopped by such light armor. I didn't tell him that though, since I do want him to wear it.

There wasn't much left of Chris' living quarters, we heard a helicopter fly off which had to have been him making his getaway, and we were kinda fucked up after running that gauntlet even before we had to pick shrapnel out of our asses anyway, so we started limping our way out.

When we got to the other side of the platform, Dave suddenly started limping over to the big fish tank. He leaned up against the glass and said, "Hey, I think there's something wrong with this shark."

And while sharks are cool, I was tired, bruised, bleeding and all I could think to say was, "Well what do you expect me to do about it? Do I look like a marine biologist?"

Dave looked at me then back to the shark.

I sighed and limped over to look, and he was right. I don't know much about sharks, but I'm pretty sure they're supposed to swim constantly, and this one was just laying there on the bottom. There wasn't anything we could do though, so I just said, "Leave it for the cops. They'll call the zoo or something and they'll take care of it."

Then he pounded on the tank and yelled, "Chris is such a fucking ASSHOLE! He probably got this thing just thinking it'd be cool to have a shark in his villain lair without even thinking about how to take care of it! What is wrong with him! If he keeps acting like this they're gonna bring the military in or some shit and they're just gonna bomb him! Does he even THINK? God, I just wanna wring his fucking neck!"

It totally caught me off guard and I just stood there for a minute before finally saying, "Dave. Let's just go home. We'll get him eventually."

Dave wiped at his eyes and pulled himself together and he was Kick-Ass again. He said, "Right. Let's get the fuck out of here. The smell is starting to get to me."

So we headed on back down to regroup and see how everyone else fared.

Biker Knight was laying on one of the couches and not moving. We couldn't tell if the blood on him was his or not, but when we walked up to him he gave us this feeble little wave and a thumbs up. Then he tried to stand and ended up just falling back onto the couch, so he just waved his hand for us to move on.

The next floor down was were the rest of the team was waiting, with Sting and Alice doing what they could to tend to our injuries.

Insect-Guy looked up us as we came down and said, "Jesus Christ, are you okay? We heard explosions."

"A LOT of explosions," Alice said as she finished wrapping Insect-Guy's leg. She turned to look at us and summed our situation up pretty well, "You two look like fucking hell. Come over here and let me see what I can do."

She spent a lot of time poking at my face going, "Does this hurt?" and "How much?" before finally decided she didn't think any bones in my head were broken. Then she started moving my arms and legs around like I was a doll trying to find anything broken in them(Which was a much shorter process.), and then practically felt me up looking for cracked ribs.

And then she did the same to Dave.

Finally she said, "Well, you two manage to not break anything as far as I can tell, but you should go to a hospital, if you can, just in case." Then she reached into her bag and said, "You're both cut the fuck up though, so you're gonna have to bear with me on this," and then she grabbed my arm and started pouring disinfectant all over me.

Burned. Like. Fuck.

Dave didn't even flinch though. Lucky bastard.

Finally she said, "So, have either of you seen Shred Ranger?"

Dave yelled, "Ha! I told you it'd catch on!"

I said, "Shut up. No one else calls him that."

She looked at me and said, "What to do you call him then?"

I said, "Biker Knight."

Sheild said, "Me too."

The Gentleman said, "I've simply been calling him, 'Our Silent Friend'" and moved his through the air above his head.

Then Alice snapped at him, "I told you to stop moving that arm."

He stuffed his arm back in his sling and said, "Yes Ma'am."

Then Biker Knight came limping down the steps and Alice went over to him but he waved her off.

That's when John said, "So everyone is in one piece then?" and after every one agreed that was the case he said, "Good. Let's get the hell out of here then. I've spent enough time around dead bodies."

I looked around then, since I was pretty sure everybody else had been at least trying to go non-lethal, and I was right. Sure, there were a few people that were still breathing laying around, but it seemed that everyone that wasn't dead or unconscious had dragged themselves away so while there weren't a lot of them, it was pretty much just us and the dead.

And they were all mine. (Probably.) I had to resist the urge to drag them all into a pile, and top it off with the amazon's head.

Anyway, everyone was pretty happy with the idea of going home so everyone got up and started walking.

John asked me if we got Chris, and I told him about the death trap and the helicopter and he wasn't happy about that at all, but he said, "At least it should be near impossible for him to get anyone to follow him after this."

Dave and I asked to be dropped off near the safe house, since we'd changed there and walked to headquarters, and going straight home wasn't an option anyway with the condition we're in.

Dave pretty much just pulled his mask off and fell on the couch, staring at the ceiling, until he fell asleep.

And now the last of the adrenalin had worn off long ago, my hand is cramping, we didn't nail Chris to a wall, and I hurt everywhere. I think I'm gonna crawl into the bed and sleep until noon.

...

After I shower. I've still got blood on me.

...

Well, at least I got a minigun out of it.

* * *

_**More Message:** So, at 5,329 words, this is by far my longest chapter to date. That said, I'd like to apologize to everyone who dislikes long chapters or just likes the general brevity of my chapters. I also want to apologize to ALL my subscribers for taking so long to get this out. Between family visits, depressing life crap, and the story not wanting to do what I needed it to do, it just took awhile. Hopefully you all found it worth it._

_...  
_

_Ya know, i thought i was going to have a lot to say about this chapter...but right now...i don't. Hope you enjoyed and leave a review!  
_


	131. Chapter 131

_**Mako's Message: **Well...eight days is better than twenty-one, right? Still not proud of it, but here we go with another chapter that's full of all the fucked up, awkwardly adorable, sexiness all of you love(or love to hate)! Honestly though, I feel like I pulled some punches with this one, but only the way that you can kill someone gently. You still killed them._

_And...ya know what? Rage at me if you want to. I know where this is going and if you don't have faith in me by now I don't think there's anything I can say to change that.  
_

_So, enjoy the chapter and let me know what you thought of it.  
_

* * *

Unlike other nights we've crashed at the safehouse, I didn't sleep with Dave last night.

Heh. Not to imply it wasn't just sleep(with maybe a bit of cuddling). Unfortunately.

But no. I did not sleep with Dave last night.

I got something better.

When I woke up and wandered out of the bedroom, Dave wasn't on the couch anymore. The place also felt kinda muggy, but I didn't hear the shower running. So I went into the bathroom and I found Dave laying back in a steamy bath.

I said, "Hey." and he jerked up and covered his goodies(not like I could see them anyway).

He said, "Hey. How're you feeling."

And I shrugged and said, "Sore. Soaking in a hot bath sounds pretty good actually," then after a pause added, "Mind if I join you?"

He said, "Yes," without any hesitation which really wasn't a surprise, "I'm kind of naked in here you know."

I couldn't help grinning. Then I said, "So put on some boxers. It'll be like a hot tub without the bubbles." ...actually, that's exactly what it was. A hot tub.

Whatever.

So before he could object any more I ran over to his bag, grabbed a pair of his boxers and threw them them at him and told him to put them on while I went to grab a bra and took off my t-shirt.

When I came back, Dave had put the boxers on and was adding more hot water to the tub.

I came up behind him and told him to get in, but he said, "No, that's okay, I think I've soaked long enough."

So I shoved him a little and said, "Just get in the tub you big pussy. I know you weren't ready to get out." I really don't know what his problem was. We were as covered as we would be at a pool, and it's not like I haven't slept in his arms, or sat on his lap tons of times.

I think he realized that if he kept trying to argue this he was just going to look like a pussy because he sighed and got back in. I climbed in after him and settled down between his legs and leaned back into his chest and I think I might have moaned a little because god DAMN did that water feel good. I had just wanted to get some close and personal time with Dave but once that heat started seeping into my muscles I just stopped caring about anything else

I stretched out and arched my back a bit and it almost felt like I was floating, but I was still mostly under the water. My head and shoulders were resting low on his chest, and his legs were against my hips and thighs, but otherwise we were barely touching. I turned my head a little to look up at him and said, "Isn't this nice?"

He didn't look at me, but after a bit he said, "Yeah. It kinda is."

I got a little more comfortable and I said, "Told you."

Then Dave said, "Your hair tickles."

I was tempted to make a joke about his cock poking me, but I didn't. I mean, I didn't want to give him any reason to jump out, ya know? Besides, I couldn't really feel it anyway.

And so we just sat there and soaked, and it was awesome. I could feel everything loosening up, and the bruises hurt less and less. We barely moved, not even getting up to drain out cool water so we could add more hot steamy water(we used our feet).

After awhile, Dave drifted off and his arms fell down and rested on my stomach. I was starting to drift off too, but that woke me up and I got all sorts of...ugh...butterflies in my stomach.

There have been plenty of times where I considered copping a feel on Dave, but I was always too chicken. I was worried that if he caught me with my hands on his junk he wouldn't cuddle with me anymore and he'd never sleep in the same bed as me again.

But this offered me a completely different opportunity.

I started inching back into Dave, trying to move up a bit so his hands would be resting on my crotch instead of my stomach. I got close, but his hands wouldn't slide down passed my waist cause when I moved up, his arms curled as much as the slid down, meaning if I wanted his hands between my legs I was going to have to put them there myself and then I could just lay there and enjoy the sensation while I pretended to be asleep too.

But when I tried to move his hands, he suddenly clenched his arms around me, holding me to him like a teddy bear with his arms around my stomach. His breathing didn't even change so I knew he hadn't woken up.

And now I _could_ feel his dick against my back.

Everything in my body froze up and rerouted all sensory receptors to my back. I couldn't even think. All I knew was that his cock was pressing into my back.

I don't know how long it lasted, but eventually I couldn't feel it anymore, and then Dave was nudging me. When I finally responded he picked up one of my hands and showed me his and my fingertips and said, "We are beyond pruney Girl, we need to get out or days from now people will come in here and find two giant pink, sogggy, raisins."

I was shocked at first, but I pulled myself together to hear that last bit and I laughed, "You know, it'd be more like human soup right?"

Dave froze in his efforts to get me to stand up and said, "Yeah, thanks for that mental image. I prefer the raisins. It's less vomit inducing."

I laughed again and climbed out and grabbed a towel after noticing my underwear was pretty much transparent now. Not that I wouldn't love him to see me like that, cause I totally would, I just remembered the last time I called his attention to my boobs and didn't want a repeat performance.

Maybe when I have a bit more of a figure I'll try again.

So Dave grabbed his towel and covered up too then left to get dressed.

I waited a bit to get dressed. I took my underwear off though, since now that I was out of the water it wasn't very comfortable, and walking around Dave like that was almost as much fun as sitting in the tub with him.

The man has an iron will though. I don't think he even looked.

Oh who the hell am I kidding. I was so covered in cuts and bruises I don't think even a pedophile could have looked at me gotten turned on.

When I checked my phone I had a ton of messages from Marcus:

"You wouldn't happen to know why the whole force is going on alert, would you?"

"WHAT TEH HELL DIDYOU DO!?"

"Your going to be under house arest for the rest of your life!"

"Where are you?"

"Mindy what happened?"

"Answer me."

"Please?"

"Is Dave with you? He's not answering either."

"Okay, I know no news is supposed to be good news but where the hell are you? Are you okay?"

"Okay, I'm really worried now. Even when you're out all night you text me in the mornings."

"I swear to god, do not make me send out search parties."

So I sent back, "I'm fine. Dave's fine. We'll be back by tonight, we're just recuperating. Call off the hounds."

I got back, "You're going to give me a damned heart attack."

After I finished talking to Marcus Dave asked, "So, are you going to get dressed or are you planning to spend all day here?"

That's when I decided that walking around in just a towel had lost it's appeal.

So I got dressed, and I looked at myself in the mirror, and I said to Dave, "We look fucked up."

And Dave said, "Well, that would be because yesterday we just so happened to _get_ fucked up."

As I started digging out my Emergency Injury Concealing Make-up Case I muttered, "I'd rather have gotten plain old fucked."

I didn't mean for Dave to hear that, I really didn't, but he did, and he choked on his gatorade and then started laughing, and said, "I'll have to agree with you on that one."

He's never made a joke like that around me before. I guess that's a good thing, but I'm not really sure...

So then I sat him down and did my best to try and cover up the damage to his face. I'm still not as good as Angela or Jessi, but it would work. But if anyone actually looked at him they'd be able to see through it. I can't do anything about swelling after all.

Hopefully Marcus wont mind writing me some notes for school.

Dave's just kinda screwed though. I'm sure he'll think of something though. He's been pretty good about it so far.

Marcus is going to flip his shit all over again when he sees me though. God I can't wait until I don't have to go to school anymore. Then I can just stay in bed all day after a day like yesterday. And hopefully by then Dave will be in that bed with me.


	132. Chapter 132

_**Mako's Message:** Been awhile since we've seen anything from this chick. I used to agonize over how to do this scene before I developed a taste for being mysterious. Enjoy._

* * *

Katie was acting really weird today.

It's not like I see much of her, just occasionally passing her in the halls like any of the other seniors that aren't Dave, Marty, or Todd. But after school today she tried talking to Dave. I don't know what they said(I was too far away to hear, and before I could get close enough Dave grabbed her and dragged her around to side of the school) but when Dave came back he didn't look happy or upset about whatever they said to each other. Katie, on the other hand, was crying when she came back around.

Now, I've wanted to punch her face in since last October, so I was totally okay with this.

When I caught up with him I gave him a light punch on his shoulder and said, "Way to go."

He was like, "What are you talking about."

So I said, "You made Katie cry."

Then he looked at me and said, "Why would you be-," then he stopped and said, "You're not upset about that."

And I laughed and told him about how long I'd wanted to punch her face in but hadn't for various reasons.

Then he smiled and punched me back. When I asked what that was for he said, "Not punching Katie."

So, I guess I had the right idea about that after all.

Anyway. It is now Thanksgiving break. So I can go and let my body rest like it deserves. I'm still fucking sore.


	133. Chapter 133

_** Mako's Message:** Not to jinx myself but... only three days since my last update? I think I'm getting back into the swing of things! At least I better. I have a lot i need to cover and the faster I do it the better._

* * *

Fuck tryptophan.

Seriously.

I'm usually up for another few hours but right now it's taking all I've got just to keep my eyes open. I've got a lot to catch up though, so I'll have to be quick unless I want Hit Girl's career to end, not at the buisness end of some gangsters gun, or in her sleep at old age, but at her desk, having fallen asleep writing and speared herself through her eye on her pen.

With everything that's been going on the last few weeks, I've barely been able to keep up with my homework let alone my friends, so I spent most of yesterday catching up with them.

Dillon is doing alright. It may have been a complete failure as far as I'm concerned, but the fact that he went to Homecoming at all has worked out pretty well for him. He's not popular now or anything, but he's gained some respect from his peers. I just hope they don't find out he went with a girl that was younger than him if they don't already. That probably would ruin it for him. Kinda wish he'd gotten to dance with Riley now. Or angela or Jessi. Either would have done.

But he's doing alright, and he's made a friend or two, and he thinks this one girl might be interested in him. But, he's not sure if she's interested or just not ignoring him.

I'm familiar with that problem, but I'm the last person who could help him solve it.

Angela's annoyed with me, and so are Cameron and Tashaya. Apparently I flaked on the last two cheerleading practices. Oops. Sorry, I was just busy taking out psychopaths, didn't mean to miss practice. It doesn't help that we have a competition coming up. Angela's been training extra hard so she'll be in top condition for it and was hoping I'd be able to help her, but... yeah. I kinda dropped the ball on that too. Hopefully I'll be able to make it up to her. And the team.

Jessi, however, is walking on air.

Seems she's found herself a boyfriend. Angela hasn't met him, but she said Jessi's been texting him constantly. Jessi, surprisingly, seems kinda embarrassed about it, but she's obviously over the fucking moon for this guy. Angela thinks she met him at the library, since that's where she's been spending her free time lately. Trying to get more out of Jessi just results in blushy silence.

Guess she has a thing for hot librarians. That means he's probably a lot older than her...but hey, if he's a librarian he's probably a decent guy, right? I mean, I doubt a guy who likes books that much could be a douchebag.

Anyway, today was Thanksgiving and Marcus invited Dave and Mr. L over this year. Nothing special, just the four of us. I tried to help, but I was banished from the kitchen after only an hour. I mean, sure, I mixed up the salt and sugar but that could happen to anyone. And how was I supposed to know increasing temperature doesn't decrease cooking time?

I don't know how I burned the water though...

So I spent my exile in my room until Dave and Mr. L came over. But they started helping Marcus in the kitchen, and I was still banished, so I just sort of hung around the door between the kitchen and the living room, watching them cook and answering Mr. L's questions about school and cheerleading. And that is when Marcus suggested I go play the Wii instead of hanging off the door.

So I sat down and picked a game at random and you it was a rhythm game...I guess. You had to bounce these little bits back with a sliding paddle and if you did it then the bits made a beat that went with the music. Simple right? Fuck no.

Okay, sure, it started off simple enough with the bits coming along every second or so and it was one a nice, simple, black space background. But five minutes in I was afraid to blink and I wanted to scream, "Ohmygodmakeitstop!" Shit was crazy. The bits where moving in increasingly erratic patterns, stopping and waiting until I forgot about them to move, even going fucking _backwards_ and the background was lit up like a fireworks display on an acid trip, and my eyes were starting to tear up cause I hadn't blinked since the bits started flying at me in formation.

It was almost a relief when I fell into the danger zone and everything turned black and white. No shades of grey. Just a solid black background, white bits, white paddle, and no music. I honestly think that was the idea. To give you a break and a chance to recover a little before building yourself back up into that techno nightmare.

I beat Marcus' score, of course (He wasn't pleased, but Dave and Mr. L cheered me.), but once I finally lost I was done with that shit. If I played it any longer I was probably going to give myself a seizure.

Game was a fucking trip.

Dave and Mr. L had fun with it though.

Dinner was good, though Marcus didn't shy away from mentioning the fact that it was no thanks to me. They seemed to think it was hilarious. Only Dave seemed even the slightest bit sorry about it.

It was nice getting to talk to Mr. L. He's a nice guy and I hardly ever see him since he's usually working either evenings or nights. He thinks it's a real trip that I'm in high-school now. He even wondered if I'd be one of those kids that graduates college before their sixteen.

I told him I seriously doubt it, since, even if I'm smart enough to, I just don't _care_ enough to put in that kind of effort.

After we ate we started to watch a movie, but when Mr. L started falling asleep he said he needed to get going, since he had to be at work at dawn because of fucking Black Friday. I asked Dave if he wanted to stay, but he said he had to work in the morning too. Not as early as his dad, but still early.

Since our guests left, Marcus decided he'd turn in after he finished with the dishes. I told him I'd do them, since I didn't get to help with dinner and I don't like feeling useless, and he just shrugged and went up to bed.

But now that that's done and I'm bored the turkey is really hitting me so I might as well just go to bed too.

Maybe I'll spend tomorrow bugging Dave at work tomorrow.


	134. Chapter 134

_**Mako's Message:** This is the first time since chapter 15 of this story that I didn't have to delete a document to upload a new one, and for that I apologize. I'd explain more, but honestly it'd just sound like whining._  
_I do know that if I have even a shred of self respect or desire to call myself a writer, then I need to god damn write._

* * *

Sometimes it's hard to explain just why I like Dave so much.

There are times where we're hanging out with our friends and joking around and having fun, or when we're alone and talking about things we can't talk about with anyone else, and it seems easy. We have fun together. We can talk to each other. We share a secret.

But then there are the times when we're taking a break from training, or relaxing after a night out watching TV, and I end up leaning into or laying across him. Or he'll lose track of time in the mornings, and I'll go up to his room and find him beating the hell out of his heavy bag to the rhythm of some song he's blasting, and I'll just stand there in the door and watch him until he notices me. And there was tonight, where he tried on his armored suit for the first time and he was posing in the mirror. He looked like such total dork, but I just couldn't take my eyes off him. And even though I was laughing at him I have to admit he did look good in it.

It's moments like that that just make me so happy to be near him. I just end up wishing the moment could last forever. And I just can't explain why.

I can't explain why just a glance from him can tell me a joke.

I can't explain why the closer I sit to him the further away he feels.

I can't explain why when he puts an arm around me, or when I rest my head against him, I start wanting to go to sleep.

I don't get it. I really don't. But I love it. I love him. And I wouldn't trade it for anything.


	135. Chapter 135

Shield is dead.

That motherfucker caught him, killed him, filmed it, and put it up all over the internet.

He is so dead. So so very very dead. I'm going to kill him, and then I'm going to resurrect him, and then I'm going to kill him so dead it'll be like he never existed.

* * *

_**Mako's Message:** Alas poor shield we...didn't get to know you that well. If only I could have written faster we could have spent more time with you._


	136. Chapter 136

_**Mako's Message: **Sorry. This was supposed to be up...two days ago.  
Also, this story now has a TvTropes page. You can find it by going to TvTropes(dot org)_ _and typing_ fanfic:Precocious Crush _into the site's search bar._

* * *

Well, the shit has really hit the fan now.

Over the last few days a lot of heroes have died. They've been attacked and killed right on the street in front of witnesses or in their homes. And the people who were attacked in their homes didn't usually STAY in their homes. They'd get dragged out into the street or thrown out of windows and left there.

The worst part is that pretty much all the people who've been attacked at home so far had hung up their capes and shit after the Times Square Brawl.

We've been pretty lucky so far though. And by "we" I mean Justice Forever.

Yeah, Dave and I got jumped but it wasn't anything we couldn't handle. The Gentleman wasn't so lucky, his shoulder was dislocated and he took a bullet to the knee. Well, it could have been a lot worse actually even if he hadn't gotten away. The bullet missed the bone, so he's got a bit of a limp he'll be fine and didn't need to stay in the hospital.

I think the hospital staff was glad for that. The actually seemed eager to get him the fuck out of there as soon as possible. They were probably worried about people coming in to attack him. Which is probably what would have happened if anyone heard about him being there.

So because of that, Col. Stars doesn't want us going out alone anymore. Dave and I obviously weren't going out alone, but the other members would. But because I'm, as Stars put it, "The big gun," he wants us to draw names out of a hat for patrol groups. Two groups of three and one group of two. I'm always supposed to be in the group of two.

It sucks that I probably wont be patrolling with Dave until we can put that motherfucker down like the diseased dog he is.

Just have to be quick about it then.


	137. Chapter 137

_**Mako's Message:** Eh. Sorry for the delay on this one. I had to seriously rethink some stuff. Hopefully it all still works(and I know I can count on you to tell me if it doesn't)  
I started a list of the top rated Kick-Ass fanfics on this site, just for the lolz. I was going to post it here, but I forgot to actually bring the list with me so it'll have to wait until the next update. With that in mind, be sure to go back and mark your favorites as favorites. It could very well change the entire standings._

_Oh, and TB is Teddy Bear. You'll understand that in time.  
_

* * *

I got to meet one of Dave's old superhero buddies. Unfortunately it wasn't for any good reason.

Dr. Gravity came running to the Justice Forever headquarters after the Cunts attacked him at his home. He said he only escaped because when he heard that even retired heroes were being attacked he booby-trapped his home to hell and back.

Obviously he didn't do a good enough job of it because he still had to run for it. If it'd been me my biggest problem would have been what to do with the bodies.

That's not a bad idea actually. I mean, after Doc G told us about what happened we started talking about what safety measure we were all taking, and the only two of us who'd been attacked where the two that had been using their home computers, without hiding or redirecting their IP Address, for hero stuff. Mage had been using different library computers, Sting did all his online stuff at coffee shops, Insect-Guy has his computer hidden, Col. Stars has all the JF computers redirected so many times even the FBI couldn't find him(Which really isn't as surprising as I thought, once I actually thought about it)

I mean, nobody is tracking me or Dave down through our internet connection, but maybe setting up some traps wouldn't be such a bad idea. I mean my TB-47 is only going to do me so much good.

But if I start acting like I'm actually worried Marcus might try to get us out of the city...

Eh. Fuck it. We'll just kill Chris and stick his head on a pike as a reminder for anyone who thinks trying to be a super villain is a good idea.

Anyway, Dr. Gravity has rejoined the group. Dave was pretty happy about that. I guess they'd gotten to be buddies or something while I was busy being grounded. Not bitter though. Nope. All worked out for the best.

He did apologize for dropping out of contact for so long though. He said that after the fight in times square he wasn't sure if he wanted to continue, and that the longer he waited to make a decision, the more awkward he felt it would be to come back. But, now that he's a target anyway, he figured he might as well take some action instead of just hiding and praying.

What he should have been doing in the first place, but whatever. Not like I can really blame him for rethinking his choices in life after getting stabbed and breaking an arm. It's not like it's in his blood to be a hero. Not like me and Dave.

I'm a little worried about Col Stars though. He's been working really hard to try and keep all the heroes in contact and safe and I think he's been sleeping at headquarters. Not that the place is a dump, he just looks really tired and I can't imagine sleeping on the couch is good for a man his age. But he's taking this job seriously at least.

It all comes back to Chris doesn't it? The sooner we end his miserable little existence the sooner the world will be a better place.


	138. Chapter 138

_**Mako's Message:** It's amazing what anger can accomplish, when properly harnessed and directed. _

* * *

You know that feeling where you feel like someone has jammed their fist into gut, grabbed all your innards and just started twisting until it feels like you're entire body is being pulled to its center and so full of tension that you could just explode and you're so mad that all you can do is scream but even that doesn't help?

That's how I feel right now.

Because while chris' attacks have slowed down, they haven't stopped. Probably because the heroes he hasn't gotten to yet have gotten the hell out of town, or just got real good at hiding. Course, now they're back to amusing themselves with the general public. And there are fewer of them now, so there's that at least.

Unfortunately the only heroes still going out are members of Justice Forever +2.

Yeah, we're doing three teams of three now. Me, Stars, and The Guardian each head a team, and before we go out we each draw names to see who we're working with that night. At least now I'll be twice as likely to have Dave on my team. I keep crossing my fingers to get Dave AND Biker Knight.

So yeah, we've actually been doing this every night.

We're actually hoping the cunts come after us so we don't have to go find them. Yes, that means we're putting ourselves out there as bait, but that's what heroes do.

So we've been going out five or six nights a week to do whatever we can to find these motheruckers and stop them from doing whatever it is their doing. Which is pretty much back to taking whatever they want, whether it's a electronics, food, or some pretty young girls pussy.

God these bastards make me sick.

And on top of this, I have to keep up the act at school and with my friends, which means getting homework done and studying for fucking midterms, and cheerleading, which has double practices because there's a competition coming up. I swear to god I'm just gonna fake the flu or something because I just do not have the time for this shit.

I feel sorry for Dave. Sure, I have cheerleading practices, but Dave has an actual JOB and it's in the middle of the holiday season. I'm actually worried he's going have a breakdown or a heart attack from all the caffeine he's been drinking. I honestly think he's one red bull away from hallucinating that he's a humming bird.

So on top of all of this, what does Marcus drop on me?

"We're going to visit my brother for the holiday."

All I could manage to say to that was, "We're going where?"

And he just continues on like nothings the matter and says, "To visit my brother in North Carolina. We alternate each year, didn't I mention this last year?"

And that's when I collapsed into hysterical laughter. Because, really, what other reaction is there to the idea of taking Hit Girl out of New York while The Motherfucker is waging war on the city and it's heroes?

But Marcus wasn't joking. No matter how much I insisted he had to be.

I refused to go of course. I have more important things to do than go celebrate a Christmas with people I barely know. If I should be celebrating Christmas with anyone it should be Justice Forever. Shit, I only know two their real names and I still know them better than Marcus' family.

Marcus wasn't having it though. He said that he'd requested Christmas week off last year, like always, and like it always had, he'd been granted it, but with everything going to hell here his time was cut back to only three days. and he said, "And we're going. We're getting the hell out of this city for three measly days and we're going have a normal Christmas whether you like it or not!"

I told him there was no way in hell I was leaving the city when it needed me so badly.

His response was to simply say that if I didn't go with him to his brothers without any fuss, then he was going to make sure that Hit Girl became the NYPD's second highest priority target.

Because apparently they DO want to arrest me as I have killed a lot of mother fuckers and they tend to frown on that sort of thing on principle. I'm just pretty close to the bottom of their priority list. Somewhere among the jaywalkers.

Anyway, I couldn't believe Marcus went straight for the biggest gun he has, and pretty much the only one I can't argue with, but he must be really serious about this since he did.

So we're leaving after his shift tomorrow and he wants me to get my bag packed now so he can see that it's ready before he has to go to work, but I'm so pissed off I all I want to do is scream but that didn't help so I thought writing about might work, but all it's doing is reminding me why I'm so pissed off and frankly I'm just amazed I haven't torn straight through this thing with my pen.

So merry fucking christmas.


	139. Chapter 139

_**Mako's Message: **Aww...only 1,936 words? I thought for sure I'd broken 2k. -sigh- So close and yet so far._

_Anyway, let's get this out of the way so I don't have to answer it in reviews. Yes, I'm a Brony. No, I'm not putting MLP:FiM into this story because I like it. I used it because in the comics Mindy likes Hello Kitty and I figured that if she saw this show she'd like it too. No, this wont be the last you see of it in this story. Yes, it has a point, it's kind of subtle but if you watch the show you might see it... I also have a really bad joke planned for later that depends on her being a fan of the show._

_That should just about cover everything..._

_I also want to thank everyone who has reviewed, followed, or favorited this story in the past year. It's been a very rough year for me and even simple things like getting a notification that someone favorited my story have been a big help to my morale._

_And enough of my blathering on. Here's the story.  
_

* * *

I forgot how much I hate long car trips. Trying to do anything but stare out the windows made me nauseous after a few minutes. I couldn't even text for long, so reading a book was out of the question, and writing was just fucking impossible. I ended up sleeping for most of the trip.

Delton was excited to see me. He'd been looking forward to playing with me again, but he got big too. I don't think I'll be able to toss him around anymore. I mean sure, I can lift him, but dangling him by his ankles is out of the question. Still fun though.

Carl and Jasmine were happy to see me. Though for completely different reasons. Carl was looking forward to spending some time with his "favorite work-out buddy" and hearing what I thought about everything going on in New York. Jasmine was just happy to see me out of the city. Apparently she'd been trying to get Marcus to send me down to stay with them until things cooled off.

I doubt Marcus ever considered it an option. Even if he could pretend he didn't know what I get up to, he'd never saddle someone else with me.

Now Kiara... I don't know about Kiara. She's been acting like I'm a dog that might bite her or something. Not that I blame her or anything. You'd just think that after a year she might be a little less paranoid about me snapping and stabbing her in the face.

Of course, I've also had time to realize she was right about me. Sorta. I mean, Dillon had a crush on me, but he's gotten over it. I think. He hasn't really done anything to make me think he's still trying to date me.

But me and Dave? That's something special. We're like... is there any way to say "soul mates" without sounding like a sappy little bitch? I just know that there's no way anyone could get me the way Dave does. We're a team. Kick-Ass and Hit Girl. Dave and Mindy. Together now and forever.

Just hoping I can make him see me as sex partner and not just a crime fighting partner soon. If he takes four or six years to open his eyes and realize he's got a girl who'll fuck him any time of day, any day of the week, right in front of him I think I'll just die.

Damn Riley and her stupid sexy body.

Anyway, I was fully planning to spend the entire trip being pissed, but it's really hard when I'm surrounded by Christmas decorations and people who are just happy to see me. I even got dragged out for some last minute shopping.

Okay, that didn't really help my mood. Hordes of crazed shoppers aren't good for ANYONE'S mood. But it did remind me that in all the crazy going on I hadn't gotten anything for Dave, Angela, Jessi, Dillon, Marcus, Marty, or Todd. Or Riley. I got fucking Katie a card last year and if I can do that I can get Riley something. And I felt like I needed to get Riley something. Just to show, even just to myself, that Riley is better than Katie. She deserves better than what Katie got even if she is my rival.

My options were pretty limited though. I didn't bring much money with me since we were only going to be gone three days and I didn't expect to be doing much of anything so I was using Marcus' card and couldn't spend much. And of course pickings are slim on Christmas Eve.

I ended up not getting Dave anything because I just couldn't _find_ anything I thought he'd like. But that's okay. He deserves more than I could have spent on him anyway.

I got Angela a CD from this band she'd been raving about. A freaking boy band if you can believe it. I thought those were a 90's thing?

Jessi's getting a book on real life superheroes. It's not much of a book though. It's mostly pictures and whatever facts they were able to piece together. The only thing they got right about me is that I'm the youngest one out there. There were some interviews with superheroes who'd quit, and one from The Guardian, and a few with some police officers, so it should be interesting for her. The main reason I got it for her though was because I was on the cover and I know she's a big fan of Hit Girl. I look kinda psycho though, like I'm gonna lick the blood off the knife I'm holding, but at least it's really well drawn. Dave is on the cover too, but he didn't get treated much better. He was drawn with his costume torn up, covered in cut and bruises, and looked like he could barely stand. But he was standing over a bunch bodies so there's that. The Guardian is on the cover too and he's the only one that actually looks heroic.

Dillon was hard. I ended up gambling on a book on photography. We'll just have to see how that turns out.

Riley's gift was pure luck. We were in a store and I was looking at the novelty shirts and found one that said, "The Power of Boobs Compels You". She should like that. I just hope she doesn't wear it while seducing Dave. Not that that would be hard...or even count as seduction at this point. … ya know, it's not too late to burn the fucking thing.

I don't really know anything about video games, but I know Todd has a pretty big collection of game systems, so I went into a used game store and bought him one of the most expensive one I could find, figuring that'd make it either really good or rare. Hopefully both.

I considered buying Marty a helmet, but that'd just be mean. Instead I got him a book of super heroin pinups. They're mostly from comics but there is a section at the back of real ones. I haven't checked to see if I'm in that one. Kinda afraid of seeing myself looking slutty.

Actually, if I am, that might help me with Dave.

.

.

.

Yeah I'm in there. They didn't sex me up though, it's just a straight portrait. Kinda disappointed now actually. I was hoping I could show Dave the picture and go, "Hey, check out what a sexy bitch I am."

It's not like any of the picture's actually look like me anyway. It's like looking at someone else dressed up as Hit Girl.

Anyway, Shopping and playing with Delton aside, this has me jumpy as hell. I feel lazy being here, because I can't do anything I do at home. At least tomorrow morning I'll be able to go for a jog with Carl. Of course, I'm going to have to fall asleep for that. I mean, I usually stay up pretty late, but I also usually burn up a lot energy during the day, and I haven't done shit today besides shop. I'm going out of my mind with nervous energy.

At least it's given me an excuse to catch up with My Little Pony. I gotta say, Pinkie is fucking nuts. Not that this is news, but that was a legitimately creepy episode. And I never thought Fluttershy could actually be scary. Rainbow Dash is even more awesome than I thought, but she just keeps getting better. And Twilight... shit, if this wasn't a show for little kids I'd say that at some point in the future she's going to have a psychotic break and kill everypony("I can't be tardy if they're all dead!"). I'm sure there's a fanfic of that already though. There is for everything else.

Which brings me back to Kiara. She came down after everyone else was asleep and I was sitting on the couch watching he show on my laptop, since I was too wired to even try to go to sleep. And she was keeping her distance and was only half in the room, hiding behind the door frame. She says, "Hey."

I looked up at her and said, "Hey," then turned back to the computer.

She didn't say anything, but she didn't move either, and then eventually she said, "You're Hit Girl aren't you?"

And I just stopped and looked at her, and said, "What?" Not a flat, "What." A genuinely confused "What?" I was proud of that. I'm getting better at this.

"You're about her age, and you're all athletic and everything. Dad said he'd never seen someone your age in such great shape. You don't talk like normal girls your age, and last year you tossed me around like it was noting and threatened to kill me."

Her reasoning was not foolproof, but it was pretty good. I'll give her that. So I said, "Yeah, about that... Sorry. I was out of line. Way out of line. But no, I'm not Hit Girl, or any other super hero. I'm just a little tomboy who's angry about losing her father, who let her watch way too many R-rated action movies, and just happened to be on the rag. But I'm getting better at dealing with things. So, again, sorry."

And the award for best performance by a superhero trying to hold onto their secret identity goes to Mindy Macready.

Then she smirked and said, "An angry little tomboy who watched too many R-rated movies and likes My Little Pony."

So I smiled and said, "I'm also a cheerleader."

"Seriously?"

"Yup."

Then she said, "Rarity is best pony."

And I was like, "Bitch please, Rainbow Dash is best pony."

Then she said, "Twilight Sparkle."

And I looked at her and said, "Fluttershy."

Then we spoke at the same time; I said "Pinkie" she said, "Applejack"

And I said "Pfft whatever."

After a moment she said, "What episode are you watching."

"Luna Eclipsed."

"I like that episode."

So I moved my laptop to the coffee table and pulled out my headphones. She sat down and said, "My favorite part is-"

I covered her mouth and said, "I haven't seen it yet."

Then she smiled and said, "I think you'll like this one."

And ya know what? Bitch was right. I think Luna might be my favorite pony now.

So, I made peace with Kiara and convinced her I'm not Hit Girl.

Okay, what the fuck is this bullshit. I just got an IM from Dave that said, "It's a trap?" and had a link to one of Chris' videos. He said that in the spirit of Christmas he's going to make sure that New York was crime free from midnight to midnight on Christmas Day. He expects us to believe this shit? He bombed the city on the Fourth of July, set a few hundred psychos loose on the city for Halloween, and has been murdering at least one person a day for the last month, and now he expects us to believe he's calling a cease fire? And he thinks EVERY CRIMINAL IN THE CITY is going to listen to him? Fuck. Bastard's probably gonna have people dressed in Santa costumes burning down department stores and churches.

Godamnit. And just when I thought I was finally going to be able to fall asleep.

God I hate him. I just hate him so, so much.

When I finally get my hands on him I'm going to hang, draw, and quarter that fucking tunk gunk.

His mother should have swallowed.


	140. Chapter 140

_**Mako's Message:** You deserve better. _

* * *

Well, the night is almost over I've heard nothing of anything horrific happening back home, so maybe that fuckhead actually kept his word.

Well...they do say there's a first time for everything.

So today was good. Got up early and went out for a jog with Carl. The sun was just coming up as we left and everything was covered in frost. We talked about things. Like how I was handling all the violence going on in New York, and if I'd ever consider coming to stay with them for awhile. I told him I wasn't having any trouble with it, of course, and said that it might be nice, sometime(I mean, Kiara and I did finally make nice so it's not an impossibility. Just unlikely as hell.) but I really didn't like the idea of leaving my friends for too long. I think he read a little more into that than I meant, but not in a bad way. Though, if he thinks I'm worried my friends might get killed at any moment he might try to push Marcus to get me out of the city more often.

Not that I'm not worried. Just, not for the friends he thought I was talking about. Unless he was talking about Dave. But Dave can handle himself alright now, and he's wearing the armor, and he's got at least one other member of Justice Forever watching his back. So he's fine.

It's only been three days since I last saw him, and I talked to him last night, but I still miss him. How lame is that? When did I get so fucking sappy?

Anyway. By the time we got back Marcus was just getting up. Was in the kitchen, still in his pajamas, pouring himself coffee when we walked in. I said, "About time you got up."

He just smirked at me and said, "At least when I have a day off I know the difference."

He can be such a jackass when he wants to be.

He did have coco ready for me though, so I forgave him.

And to be fair he _was_ the third one up. The fourth was Delton. Then an hour or two later Jasmin woke up, the grand parents arrived, and eventually Kiara crawled out of bed and we could open presents.

Marcus bought things the were supposed to be from me, which was good because I totally forgot to get anything for Marcus's family and I felt like a complete tool when I saw there was a decent pile of presents for me and I hadn't gotten anyone anything.

I didn't get anything special this year. Marcus' present was especially lame.

Delton got a video game that he wanted me to play with him. So I spent most of the day doing that. Dinner was good. I haven't been that stuffed since the Thanksgiving we spent at Dave's.

I haven't heard from him today, except for a "Merry Christmas" text that I missed. I sent one back when I finally saw it, but I haven't heard anything from him since. I hope everything is okay. But not, ya know, TOO okay. The last thing I need is to find out he spent the day banging Riley until she couldn't walk.

So anyway, after dinner Kiara and I watched the My Little Pony version of a Christmas special. It was...cute. They probably could have solved their problems by giving their leaders a good buck to the head long before they ended up encased in ice though.

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Okay. Seriously. Why haven't I heard from Dave? I've tried texting him and he still hasn't responded. There's nothing in the news about anything big happening back home. Hell, there's nothing in the news about ANYTHING happening.

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Everybody but Kiara is downstairs watching some Christmas movie. I tried watching it with them but I just couldn't focus on it. Same thing when I tried just dicking around the internet. Even the Real Superhero Registry boards couldn't keep me my attention. Maybe I should just go to sleep.

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I'm not going to be able to sleep either, am I?

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Where are you Dave?


	141. Chapter 141

_**Mako's Message: **Sorry about the delay on this. Things have been crazy the last...wow I don't even remember how long ago it was that I updated this. Two weeks?_

_Anyway, this is one of the chapters that people are either going to love, or I'm going to catch a ton of shit for. If I know you guys, it'll be mostly praise, but a couple of you will call bullshit on this chapter. But this is also one of those chapters in which I am COMPLETELY unrepentant for anything and everything in this chapter.  
_

_Important message after the chapter.  
_

* * *

Okay. Tonight was so awesome. I can't even believe it. So Marcus-

Wait. No. I should save that for last cause I have other stuff to talk about and it'll be all anticlimactic and shit and I won't even want to talk about it. It'd be like, "This totally awesome thing happened and it was awesome! Oh and some other stuff happened before that too but whatever." Besides, it's best to keep things in order. Makes it more interesting to read, and what's the point of writing this if nobody's ever going to read it? Not that I want anybody to, but it'll at least be more interesting for me if ten years from now I get all nostalgic and want to read it.

Right, so the beginning.

The other night I was being all mopey and emo cause Dave wasn't responding to my texts. Well, he sent me text saying, "Sorry for missing you yesterday. Talk when you get home", but I didn't see it until later that afternoon because I only got like, two and half hours of sleep before we had to get up and start packing our shit up and saying goodbye so I spent most of the morning sleeping in the car. By the time I did see it though, I knew he would be at work so I couldn't reply back even if trying to read in the car didn't make want hurl.

Talk about a weaksauce weakness.

Anyway, when we get home I texted Angela and Jessi to let them know I was back, and Angela asked me if I wanted to with her to Atomic Comics the next day because her brother got her a gift card from there. So we both asked Jessi if she wanted to go too, and she said she'd love to which was great since it meant I could give them their gifts at the same time.

Then I texted Dave and told him I was home and heading over to his house whether he was there or not. So, I climb in through the window (cause that's how I roll) into his room where he was waiting for me(as he should've been). And as soon as I'm in the room he starts talking to me about how he'd gone out with Riley on Christmas and I'm thinking, "I really don't want to hear about this," but then he says because they were out all day he didn't notice that his phone had died until he got home and how he'd decided to just let the phone charge without turning it on and didn't see my texts until the next morning which was when he realized how long his phone had been dead and he sent the apology text. Then he apologized again and said he didn't mean to make me think I was ignoring him.

I really want believe that, but I think he's just trying to be nice.

So I asked him what he got me for Christmas.

He immediately stood up and started across the room, but then he stopped and started again but slower this time. He took out a present and looked at it and said, "Okay, I feel kinda lame giving you this, and I don't even know if they're any good or if you can even use them, but I saw them and I thought of you, and I just had to get them," and he handed it to me.

It was a pair of purple, steel capped, nunchuk, with a little heart on the cap.

Okay, so, Daddy never trained me with nunchuks because he said that staff and sword training could be applied to more everyday objects(like brooms, or pipes) than specialty weapons like sai, hookswords, and nunchuks("even if they are really cool") so I can't use them. Yet. I mean, sure I'll have to put in some extra training time to learn how to use them but, c'mon, NUNCHUKS! You can really fuck people up with these things if you know what you're doing. They'll totally be worth the effort.

After a few minutes of Dave laughing at me trying to do more than just spin them without hitting myself in the face he said, "Alright, so what'd you get me?" and almost really did crack myself in the head.

So, I just held them behind my back and tried to give him a smolderingly sexy look and said, "What? I'm not enough present for you?"

And he just looked at me like, "Really?"

And we kept looking at each other like that until I finally cracked and said, "Okay, I couldn't find anything for you, but I'll figure something out soon.

"It's alright, don't worry about it, but you do owe me a present at some point."

I could think of a couple things I could have given him right then but he obviously still isn't interested in me like that.

So I asked him, "Why did you think giving my nunchuks would be lame anyway?"

And he said, "Well, you gave me a gun last Christmas, I gave you the staff for your birthday, and you gave me those wicked batons for my birthday, and I just didn't want to end up where we're always giving each other weapons for presents."

And I just looked at him and said, "Are you seriously saying you'd have a problem with me getting you a katana or an assault rifle for a present?"

Dave just blinked at me and then said, "Well, a katana _would_ be pretty cool but I don't think I'd ever use an assault rifle."

So I said, "I doubt you'd ever use the _katana_ so what's the difference?"

And he said, "It would be a lot easier to explain a katana hanging on my wall than an assault rifle."

And I shrugged and said, "I guess," and changed the subject, "When are you supposed to meet up with the rest of the team for patrol?"

And that's when he tells me, "I actually told them I wouldn't be coming tonight. Unless you want to go out. I mean, I'm sure you can't wait to get back on the streets, but I thought you might want to, ya know, hang out tonight."

And suddenly I'm thinking, "Holy shit he cleared his schedule for me. I might actually have a chance!" so I said, "Can I spend the night?"

And he just shrugged and said, "Sure, if you want."

And I kinda pounced on him. Yeah. I know. Subtle. But he didn't seem to mind and I didn't care and I started kissing him and he was kissing me and running his hands up my back and it was awesome.

Or at least it would have been if I hadn't been such a pussy and actually done that instead of freezing up and losing myself in my little fantasy until he said, "Oh! I have to tell you about what happened on Christmas!"

And apparently what happened on Christmas was that Chris really did keep his word. When they were out on patrol, they ran into a group of cunts and there was this brief little standoff where both groups were wondering who'd make the first move. Then one of the cunts says, "Merry Christmas", and then the rest of them say it and they walk out into the street and around Dave and White Mage and Insect guy. And here's the part that really blew me away.

Dave and them _let them walk away_.

I couldn't believe it. Dave had a hard time believing it too, and he said they talked about taking them down, but they all agreed that if the _bad guys_ where walking away without starting shit they'd have felt like complete assholes if they went over and attacked them. And it was supposed to be a Christmas Ceasefire so they decided that they should, "be, ya know, good guys, and not start a fight."

I can NOT wrap my head around this. These are MURDERERS and RAPISTS we're talking about. Taking them off the streets, in cuffs or bodybags (I really don't care which) would have been a fucking Christmas gift to the city.

And then he blows my mind by telling me that there were actually no crimes committed on Christmas. It made the news and everything. I'm sure somebody, somewhere, did something that went unseen or unreported, but as far as the police are concerned nothing happened. They're calling it, "The White Christmas" I guess because it was all peaceful and "pure" or some shit.

I need to remember to ask Marcus about this.

Anyway, the rest of the night wasn't anything special. We watched some movies, I continued trying to become The Guy, we ate way to many cookies, and ended up falling asleep on the couch.

But the next day we went over to Atomic Comics to meet Angela and Jessi. We got there before them, but Marty and Todd where there.

When we headed for their table, Marty started tapping Todd on the shoulder and said, "Hey, dude, help me out here. We know these two don't we? They seem familiar but I just can't place their names."

So I stepped up, grabbed him by his jacket and cocked my fist back and said, "Maybe I can help jog your memory."

Then without even flinching, he snapped his fingers and said, "Mindy! Now I remember. It's been what? A year?"

Dave took off his coat, slid into the seat across from them and said, "Stop being a dick."

Marty just smiled and said, "But that's my best quality. Er, sorry, I meant my dick is my best quality."

So I said, "I think you mean your ONLY quality."

Then he grinned, said, "God I've missed you," and held his fist out for a bump, which I gave him, and then he said, "Seriously though, we haven't hung out in forever. What's up with that?"

Dave and I shrugged, "We've just been busy."

Marty just smirked into his coffee.

And that's when Angela and Jessi came in. They squeezed in next to us, Jessi next to Marty and Angela next to me. So I handed them their presents and Marty said, "And where are our presents?"

And Angela said, "She just loves us more," and stuck her tongue out.

So I told them I did have presents for them, I just didn't bring them because I didn't think they'd be here.

And then Todd just looked at me and said, "We're always here," and I felt like a tool.

But I had gotten some cash for Christmas so I paid for their food for the rest of the day to make up for it.

Angela spent the rest of the afternoon moaning about how mad she was that she didn't have a portable CD player, because she wanted to listen to the CD I got her but she only had an iPod so she had to wait until she got home. Funny how things work sometimes isn't it?

Jessie loved her book, she spent most of the afternoon reading it. But the first thing she did when she saw what it was check the table of contents and go directly to the Hit Girl section. It was kinda hard not to grin my ass off at that, but I figured I could get away with it if everybody thought I was just happy she was enjoying my present.

I also noticed that Jessie had gotten a new phone. Which was way over due. Even the emergency phone Dave slipped me back when I was grounded was better than Jessi's old phone. This one wasn't top of the line or anything, but it was still pretty nice. When I asked about it, Jessi started to answer but Angela jumped in with, "Her boyfriend gave it to her for Christmas. Ya know, the one we still haven't met."

She said that last bit while glaring at Jessi who just blushed and tried to sink into the booth.

Then she looked back at me, "You'd think she'd want us to meet the guy she's so over the moon about that she won't stop talking to him."

Which made Jessi hide behind the book I gave her.

"And every time I try to bring it up she does that. Can you help me out here?"

I looked at Jessi, and I tried not to look at Dave, and I said, "Hey, everybody has some secrets they want to keep and if Jessi is hiding something I'm sure she's got a good reason for it. As long as she's happy I don't see why we need to pry."

Jessi smiled at me so gratefully it was painful to watch.

Angela groaned and hit her head on the table, "You're both going to drive me nuts!" Then she sat up and "Fuck it. I'm gonna go ask that guy if he'll let me listen to my CD on his laptop."

I recognized "that guy" from school, so I figured if she wanted to try and flirt her way into getting to listen to her CD I wasn't going to stop her.

Okay, so Dave had to work so I went home from Atomic Comics to try and get in a quick work out and a nap before we went out that night. Then, maybe an hour before Dave was supposed to come pick me up, Marcus comes over and asks if we're going out tonight. Which was weird, because me and Marcus generally have a "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy about what I do when I leave the house. Then he asks me to tell Dave to come here straight from work, which is even weirder.

So I'm sitting there waiting for Dave and wondering what's going on. Then he gets there he asks me what's going on and I don't know, so we're both sitting there waiting for Marcus to tell us what this's all about.

Then he comes in and asks us to follow him into the kitchen where he opens up the garage door and motions us to go in, but the lights are out, and tells us to just go in. So we both walk in, wondering what the hell I going on, and honestly I was starting to think he was trying to stage some intervention bullshit.

Then he flicks on the lights and there's a car in front of us. And at first I don't think anything of this because my vision is all spotty from the lights coming on, and then I notice it's purple, and black, with pink trim. And my brain just…can't comprehend what I'm looking at.

And Marcus says, "I was going to save this for your sixteenth birthday," and then the gears start turning again, "but with all the shit that's going on in this city I decided that if I can't keep you off the streets entirely, I'd feel a lot better if you patrolling in this than on foot." And I start freaking out.

Because

Marcus

Got

Me

A

Fucking

CAR!

And then finally Dave kicks in with, "This is the Mist-Mobile!"

Marcus nods and says, "Well, it was, but then I bought it and had it repainted and now it's whatever Mindy want's to call it because it's her's now."

And I just blurt out, "The Hit-Mobile!" Yeah, it's not the best name, but it's grown on me.

So then I'm like, "How did you do this? Isn't everyone going to know you bought this?"

And Marcus just looks at me and says, "Your Dad isn't the only person who knows how to do things under the table," and I felt kinda stupid. Then he said, "Obviously it being here is just a one time thing. I have a spot reserved for you at a private lot. It's unguarded, but I figured you'd like that, and you need your own key to open the gate. I don't know if it's close enough to your safe house to use so it's only paid for until the end of January."

And then there was nothing for me to do but run over and see how hard I could hug him without breaking his ribs.

So then he gave me the keys and said, "Just, for the love of god, be safe and careful. I'm screwed enough as it is if you get caught."

So patrol kind of took a backseat to me taking each member of Justice Forever for quick rides around the city. Speaking of backseats, White Mage said that the only problem with the car was that it lacked one. I almost crashed.

Uncle John seemed kinda envious of it, honestly, but he said at least the van he'd use to cart us all around in would be less crowded if I was taking someone along in it.

Insect-Guy only said, "I don't know how old you are, so please don't tell me."

Dr. Gravity was actually kinda depressed about the whole thing. He looked at his "gravity rod" and back to my car and asked why I always get the best stuff.

It's because I'm fucking awesome.

Fuck I have a car. And it's an awesome car. I just can't get over this.

CAR!


	142. Chapter 142

**_Mako's Message: _**_Okay, first of all, that thing I talked about in the mako's-message-that-is-no-longer-there? Mission Successful. I want to thank everyone for their support and I'm going to try and find some way to thank everyone. Perhaps an extra bonus chapter? (The bonus has been doubled! -is smacked- ...yeah, i deserved that.)_

_Anyway, sorry this is so short, but I think the content will more than please a lot of you.  
_

* * *

Dave kissed me. He actually kissed me.

We were standing there, and then he puts his hand under my chin and leans in and kisses me.

It was awesome.

Sure, it wasn't like there was tongue involved, and it was too quick and I was too surprised to kiss him back, but he kissed me. On the lips. On his own. On New Years Eve.

That counts for something.

And even though it was a few seconds after midnight I'm still counting it as a completed New Year Resolution.

He got all cute and blushy about it afterwards too. Well, he was probably blushing. I couldn't really tell since he was wearing his mask. He even tried to threaten to kick my ass if I told anyone. So fucking cute. Not like I'd tell anyone anyway. Last thing either of us need is a repeat of what happened at the start of school.

It could have been the best night of my life.

But then that motherfucker had to go and ruin it.

I don't know if something went wrong with his detonator, or if he was just fucking with us on purpose, but maybe ten seconds after the ball dropped, just when we were startiong think he wasn't going to be attacking Times Square, the fucking ball exploded.

It wasn't a normal explosion either. It was a cluster bomb that sent a bunch of fireballs raining down on the crowd. Some exploded in mid air, sending even more fireballs into the crowd, some didn't blow until they hit the ground, and some where just flaming balls of crap.

Chaos ensued, of course, and some people started rioting, but I don't think any of them were Cunts. Didn't have the same level of crazy. Less "Yeah! Let's fuck people up!" and more "Woo! Let's break shit!"

That and most of them surrendered or ran when I, or any of the other members of Justice Forever+2, approached them. The cops weren't so lucky that way. I think it actually made a few of them resentful. Not my fault they respect my asskicking ability more than your bage.

Ah well. Dave still kissed me.


	143. Chapter 143

_**Mako's Message:**__ So…been awhile huh? Only thing I can say to that is for most of December and the end of November I had a truly horrible cold and was so hopped up on cold medication I __didn't know which way was up. And I realize this chapter isn't that long, but there's some fun stuff after it._

* * *

Well. Chris may have fucked us all over.

That little stunt of his on New Years Eve has the whole country debating putting New York under martial law.

Guess Dave was right when he was saying that Chris doesn't think about this shit. Bombing Times Square when the whole fucking country is watching it on live TV? What the fuck did he think was going to happen? And it looks like he was right about the government just coming in and bombing the fuck out of wherever Chris was living if he kept this shit up.

Not that I wouldn't mind watching that.

Marcus actually seems happy about this for some reason. Not sure why. I mean, sure, it'd pretty much keep me at home since the military would be just as eager to have me in cuffs as they would the Cunts. (Apparently I'm not that popular with the law and order people outside of New York.) They obviously don't understand the situation. Not like the NYPD do. The few times I've been seen by a cop they didn't seem too eager to slap the cuffs on me.

But aside from that, I don't know why Marcus would be happy about this. It'd mean that this was too big for the cops(which is what I've been telling him for months) and the army had to step in.

I wish I could just focus on hunting Chris down in whatever little hole he's hiding in and emptying a clip into his head. But I've gotta keep up the whole school thing. If nothing else so Marcus doesn't get in trouble. He's really put up with a lot of shit from me so far, and then he goes and gives me a sweet ass car, so the least I can do is make sure he doesn't have people calling him because I'm missing school or my grades tart slipping.

Cheerleading though. Fuck. God I wish I never had gotten into that. Sure, it can be fun, and being able to walk around school on games days in my uniform is nice... Well. It would be if Dave took any notice of it. But it's just another obligation to fill and I really don't need to catch crap from Cameron or Tashaya for skipping practices on top of everything else and I REALLY don't have time for this competition.

So, as always, the only solution is to put Chris in the ground as soon as fucking possible.

Easier said than done apparently.

* * *

_**Ch140 Bonus Qualifiers**_

_You should all know the drill by now. If your name is on this list send me your e-mail in the following format: [address] at [provider] dot com_

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The Last Chronicler

The Dark Eccentric

_**Contest: Mindy Vs Bed Rest**_

_In five thousand(5,000) words or less, write a story about Mindy being put on bed rest. Th__is can be for any reason; illness, injury, surgery, __pregnancy,__whatever you can come up with and can be of any genre. It does not have to have anything to do with _Precocious Crush _or be posted on . __**It**__**must be**__ submitted by __**11:59 EST **__**January**__**31, **__**2013 **__via __**PM**__ containing __**a link**__ to the story or __**the story itself**__ to be eligible to win. _

_**The Prize:**__ A fanfic of your choice written by yours truly. It can even be a non-Kick-Ass fic(provided I'm familiar with the source material). The only limit is that it c__an not spoil the ending of _Precocious Crush_._

_**Precocious Crush: The Soundtrack**_

_This has taken some effort to put together and keep to reasonable length. It's not perfect, but If you think about it, some of these can also function as teasers._

Girlfriend – Avril Lavigne

Faint –Linkin Park

Devour – Shinedown

Into The Night – Santana Feat. Chad Kroeger

You Belong With Me – Taylor Swift

Burn It To The Ground – Nickleback

Away From Me – Puddle of Mudd

Gives You Hell – The All American Rejects

Hot – Avril Lavigne

Sucked In – Jerk

War – Sick Puppies

Going Down – Sick Puppies

Spitfire - The Prodigy

My Happy Ending – Avril Lavigne

Schizophrenic Conversations - Staind

So What – Pink

What The Hell – Avril Lavigne

It's Not Over – Daughtry

Stromata – Charlotte Martin


	144. Chapter 144

_**Mako's Message:** Hey look! A Chapter! Might have had this up sooner, but, ya know, Holidays._

_Uhm...I got nothin else. Enjoy!  
_

* * *

I am so pissed off I just can't even.

People just...

People blow my fucking mind and it makes me want to blow their goddamned brains out.

I mean, as if I don't have enough crap going on in my life, I have people picking fights with me in school.

He didn't even want to fight _me_, but he picked a fight with me anyway so he could fight _Dave_.

And that's all there is to it. He didn't have a grudge against us or anything. He just wanted to fight us. Well, Dave.

I didn't even know who this guy was. I found out after the fact that he just transferred in at the start of the second semester. Apparently he'd heard around school that Dave could fight. Which isn't that surprising after the way he just stomped on those guys that jumped him once he actually started fighting back.

And of course when he beat the hell out of the kid that jumped me last year.

And he wasn't even subtle about it either. He just came up at lunch while I was talking with Dave and said, "You're Dave Lizewski, right?"

And Dave was like, "Yeah?"

So this guy said, "I heard you could fight. I thought I'd find out how good you are for myself."

And Dave and I and Marty just looked at him for a second until Dave was finally like, "Wait, what?"

And dude cracked his knuckles and popped his neck and said, "I wanna fight you."

And of course Dave said, "Uh...no. Yeah, that's not gonna happen."

So this guy is like, "What's the matter pussy? Can't stand up to a challenge? I hear you were a total dork a couple years ago, so maybe you just got lucky and don't want to ruin your rep? Trying to ride that so nobody tries to start shit with you?"

And Dave said, "Well if I was, it's obviously not working."

"So what's it gonna be? You gonna stand up and fight me, or are you just gonna sit there like a giant fucking pussy."

And I thought this whole thing was hilarious, because, seriously, Dave would kick this guy's ass without breaking a sweat. Now, while I'd have loved to watch this guy get his ass kicked, I didn't want Dave to get in any trouble for fighting, so I said, "Dude, you really don't want any of what Dave's bringing."

And then he just looked at me like he just noticed me, "You're Mindy right? Girl people thought pussy here was messin' around with?"

That, of course, made _me_ start wanting to hit him, "Yeah. What of it?"

And he said, "So, you're the girl he beat the crap out of some kid over last year?"

"Yeah?"

So then he turned to Dave and sorta smiled, "You two must be pretty tight."

And before Dave could finish saying whatever he started saying, this fucking douchbag sucker punched me! He didn't even stop looking at Dave! He just turned and punched me right in the face!

Knocked me on my ass too. Fucker.

So I sit up, with my hand covering my eye and I can feel my nose bleeding, while the whole cafeteria is cheering the fight on, because of course Dave jumped in to defend me, and all I'm thinking is murder.

Now Dave and this guy are going at it on the other side of the table from me, so I just jumped onto the table and leapt off it, and smashed my fist right into this bastard's face. It dropped him to one knee so I followed it up with a spinning ax kick to the back of his head, which hit the floor so hard it bounced. Twice.

Dave said, "You didn't have to do that,"

And, I appreciate the thought, but the guy just gave me a massive black eye, a bloody nose, and knocked my ass to the ground, so as I said to Dave, "Oh yes I fucking did."

And that's when the teachers got there. They saw the whole thing, but it started so fast and with the crowd that formed instantly they couldn't get in to try and break it up, so Dave and I got off with just a detention for (Marcus would love this) "using excessive force" since it was obvious I was defending myself and Dave was defending me too.

And I hate to say it, but I looked almost as bad as he did after I planted his face in the floor, so they were feeling lenient anyway.

But that's not the end of the retardedness that is people.

There's a new gang in town.

Yeah, seriously, every night there's more coverage on the news about the debate on whether martial law in New York City is necessary, and some people decide that THIS is the time to put on costumes and go out terrorizing people.

Yes, these guys wear costumes, but it's pretty obvious they aren't part of Chris' Cunts because there's a video of them beating the crap out of each other. They're also more uniform about it. They actually look like a team. And their color is red.

At first, because it was the fight with the cunts that got them attention, people thought they might be another super hero team, but lots of people called bullshit on that because they said that they'd been attacked by them, or had friends that were. And then a video showed up last night of one of the few super heroes that were too stupid to either hide or join up with others getting into a fight with them.

The guy lost, but it was only a one on one fight at least. The others just stood back and cheered them on. Then when the guy knocked the hero out they walked off.

Sounds like these assholes and that guy at school would make great friends.

God my eye still fucking hurts.


	145. Chapter 145

_**Mako's Message: **And this is how it's supposed to be done!_

_Anyway, enjoy the chapter.  
_

* * *

I don't know whether to laugh, cry, or go on a bloody rampage and murder everyone at school.

This whole thing is just so...hypocritical. And just... really. "Is this really happening?" That's how this feels.

See, almost every single person at school has a cell phone, and almost every single one of those phones has a camera on it, so of course when a fight breaks out everybody pulls out their phone and starts snapping pictures. But that's old news.

The problem is that last night there was a football game, and on game days the players wear their jerseys to class. And the cheerleaders wear their uniforms too. We don't _have_ to, and for awhile I didn't. But between Cameron and Tashaya encouraging me, and Alice's suggestion that prancing around in front of Dave in my uniform might get his attention I started doing it too.

Now, our skirts aren't ridiculously short or anything, they come down to about mid thigh, little further on me, but it's fucking short enough when you have your knee up around your shoulder.

So, add those two things together and with a little luck you get a panty shot of yours truly.

Which is now all over the school.

Literally. Someone printed out a bunch of copies and stuck them on the walls. There's even two different sets of them since one is actually posted in series, showing me ax kicking the guy.

And if people just wanted to admire that awesome kick, I probably wouldn't have a problem with this. But it's that one photo where there's nothing between the camera and my cooch but a millimeter of cotton that seems to be the most popular.

I tried to make the best of it, I really did. I pulled one off a wall and went over to Dave and said, "Hey, want a copy?"

And he looked at me like, "Not you too," and showed me the two dozen other copies of it people had slipped into his locker.

They didn't stay up for very long of course. Between me, my friends, and the faculty they were all down before first period.

Doesn't change the fact that there's probably a copy of it on every guys cell phone and most of the girls.

I'm still trying to figure out how they can go from crucifying Dave over supposedly having a sexual relationship with me to passing around a photo of me flashing my panties.

And everybody is laughing at me about it too.

They should be fearing me, not mocking me! Did they already forget what happened to the other person in that picture a half second later?

Seriously. What happened to me being a bad ass in this school? When did people starting being able to get away with yelling, "Hey! Nice Panties!" at me?

The worst part is that I can tell Dave isn't even showing a passing interest. By the end of school he'd gotten a few more pictures slipped into his locker and he didn't even spare them a glance. Just sorta sighed and crumbled them all up and tossed them in the trash.

It's not fair. The whole school is passing around this picture and ogling my goodies. And the one guy I want to look, the one guy who should understand that I'm not an innocent little child and that it might be okay to look at me sexually, that I might actually _want _it, is the one who refuses to even look at me.


	146. Chapter 146

_**Mako's Message: **Well, so much for my new years resolution. _

* * *

Well, it's finally happened. The cheer team is going to a competition this weekend.

I've had other things on my mind, but Angela hasn't been able to stop squeeing about it for the last month. Dave hasn't been any help either. He's actually been working with White Mage and Col. Stars to cover for me with Justice Forever. I think he takes some sort of sick pleasure out watching me suffer and is making sure I won't have any excuses to bail on this.

Of course, even if he wasn't I wouldn't be able to skip on this trip. I'm just not the kind of person who skips out on my obligations. My team needs me so I'm going to be there. Yup, I'm totally Element of Loyalty material. I just wish there was an Element of Putting-Up-With-Stupid-Bullshit so I could get through the weekend without punching some bitch's teeth in.

I mean, sure, our team is cool. Cameron, Tashaya, and Coach Baum don't put up with catty bullshit. Cameron was actually made Captain last year after the old captain was suspended for bullying. But if I have to spend a weekend surrounded by alpha-bitches I can't guarantee that there won't be a blood bath.

Say what you will, but if more people got punched in the face for mouthing off we'd have a politer society.

Speaking of polite societies and how we don't live in one, I was out with White Mage the other night and I started ranting about the panty shot fiasco. About how how putting my crotch on display seemed to be most exciting thing the school had seen that year, even beating out the pedo hunt. How Marcus went in and started threaten litigation and arrests if this wasn't stamped out. How the only person I'd have liked to see showing any interest in the pictures seemed to be the only person NOT showing interest in the photos. Privately of course.

She told me I should look at the bright side of all this. That Marcus wanted me to be a normal girl, and the school was treating me like any other girl who'd gotten caught with her skirt up.

I'm not so sure that's something I or Marcus should be happy about and not something to lose what little faith in humanity I still have over.

Anyway, the team is going out for dinner and crap to psyche ourselves up for the competition. Someone will be here to pick me up soon so I better get ready.

I really hope this isn't going to be as lame as I think it's going to be.


	147. Chapter 147

_**Mako's Message:** I'm disappointed with the length of this chapter, but only because it felt like I'd written so much more. Also I've been pecking away at it for almost a week so..._

_Anyway, today is the last day of the _Mindy Vs. Bed Rest _contest. Quick reminder of the rules if anyone want's to make a last minute entry._

_-Mindy, for any reason, is put on bed rest  
_

_-5,000 words or less  
_

_-A link or the story itself must be PM'd to me.  
_

* * *

I ended up staying out pretty late with the team last night. I'll never underestimate the power of karaoke again. … Actually, it was probably more the power of the alcohol Jackie "talked" one of the waiters into slipping into our drinks. Thank god I have a good sense of smell. I prefer to keep my wits about me, thank you very much, and who knows what I might have said if I'd gotten smashed. I think Cameron is the only other girl who didn't drink anything. She's the only other girl that didn't get tipsy at least.

Anyway, I got home kinda late, relatively at least, and went straight to bed. Turns out an unexpected bonus of being a costumed hero is that I get to walk in at hours that would get other girls grounded or the rest of their lives without consequence.

Our bus wasn't early, so I was still able to get my morning workout routine in without any problems. We were supposed to show up an hour before we were supposed to leave though. A couple of the girls still managed to be late. Lazy bitches.

It was kinda fun watching Cameron and Coach Baum chew them out though.

After they were through with them, I heard one of the girls grumbling about why we had to bus it anywhere, since about half the teams competing in this are from the city.

Coach Baum didn't hear it, but Cameron did, she turned and she said that they actually alternated. One year it'd be in the city, the next out in the country. The idea was to get the kids in the city, OUT of the city, and give country kids a chance to visit the city.

I slept on the bus, of course. Nothing else worth doing, and let's face it, I can use the sleep when I can get it.

The competition is two days. Sorta. First day is registration and shit. Second day is the actual competition. It could probably be done in one day if they really wanted to, but I guess if they did it'd probably be chaos and the teams would have to show up a day early anyway.

Anyway, it takes place at this resort hotel that's in the mountains. It's pretty nice. I'm gonna have to get Dave to bring me up here for Valentine's Day. Eventually.

Though, it's a full season resort, so there are out door pools and tennis courts and shit that are all closed down and they kinda make the place look...shut down. Probably looks nice in the summer, but right now all the action is on the slopes. Well, and the indoor gymnasium where this is all taking place.

When we got in to register and saw all the other teams standing around, Angela started hopping up and down and squeeing... and didn't stop until her voice hit a pitch usually reserved for calling dogs. Cici was standing next to us and said what I was thinking before I could, "Down girl. We haven't won anything yet."

And then Angela gave me a hug that was more like a choke hold and said, "But we've got Mindy! With her on the team we can do anything!"

Tashaya came over and said, "Yeah, she's got some good moves, but she's not gonna support the team by herself, and a lot of the moves she lets us pull off are moves WE have to pull off. Plus, we don't know what any of these other teams can do. And finally, she's not gonna be our secret weapon if you keep going around shouting about her!" and then smacked her in the back of the head hard enough toss all her hair in front of her face.

She muttered a "sorry", THEN she let go of me.

Friendship. Letting someone get away with assaulting you without a beating.

So after we got registered and checked in and got our bags up up to our rooms we were allowed to go out and have some fun. A couple girls wanted to go skiing, but Cameron shut that down pretty fucking quick. It was actually kinda epic. In a low key kind of way. She heard them discussing it, and walked up to them and said, "Wow. Skiing huh? Be careful not to fall and break something. I'm sure Mindy would hate to find out we couldn't compete because you got careless." And then they went and did something else.

It's nice to have your abilities appreciated.

Angela and I decided to just go t-

Oh my fucking god why did I have to get stuck sharing a room with such nosey bitches!

I mean, seriously, it's rude enough trying to read over someone's shoulder, but trying to take what they're writing? And they actually tried to play keep away with it. They'll be lucky if I let them out of that closet before morning.

Actually, they're lucky we have a competition to win tomorrow so I couldn't get too rough with them.

Anyway, Angela and I decided to just wander around the place for awhile and see what there was to see. We did end up going tubing for a bit. It was...fun. We were under orders from Coach Baum to get to sleep early though, so we didn't stay out for long.

Sleeping might be a problem now though. I really don't want to have to deal with those two bitches, but I'm going to have to let them out eventually. Maybe I should just wait until they fall asleep and then take the chair away.

At the very least I'll need to make sure I stash my journal somewhere safe first. Not sure if putting it under my pillow will be enough.


	148. Chapter 148

_**Mako's Message: **585. Blech. There's no real excuse for this. The closest I can come to one is that I have so many idea's bouncing around in my head that it's hard to focus on just one. Because, really, I have so many things I want to write... and that's the other thing. The longer it takes me to get a chapter out the more pressure I put on myself to make it "worth it", which just makes it take even _longer_. So, I guess what I really need to do is hammer myself into that "chapter ever 2-3 days" schedule I've wanted to have for...a really goddamn long time._

_Also, I need to write down the things I want to say in these things because I can never remember the important bits when it's finally time to write them down._

_That said, hope this amuses you for...-looks at word count- the next thirty seconds.  
_

* * *

Ya know, despite the fact that I never intend for anyone to read this, ever, I still write it as if someone will. I've always figured it seems pointless to do otherwise. I mean, what's the point in writing it down if nobody is going to read it?

It's this mysterious, potential reader that is causing me problems right now. Specifically, how do I handle "spoilers"? Do they even exist? I mean, everything I'm writing about has already happened, so anyone interested in me enough to read my diary probably already knows all this stuff. Well, some of it anyway. So, if I know a person well enough to allow them to read this, what about my past don't they know? Especially trivial shit like this?

And if I haven't allowed you to read this, your life is forfeit.

Anyway, the point of all this over thinking is whether there's any point in trying to keep any sense of suspense about the outcome of the competition.

I've decided that no, there isn't.

We won.

Well, that's not entirely accurate. I mean, we did win, but so did two other teams. There'll be another, smaller, competition in a couple month before the national competition. I honestly don't know why they do it like this. It's not going to cut down numbers or anything. It's just an excuse to have another competition. But whatever. The rest of the team is thrilled to be competing, so, woo and all that bullshit.

Of course, that's not to say that things were completely uneventful.

I was talking with Angela and Tashaya before breakfast when some bitch from another team went by us down the steps and "accidentally" bumped into me in a pathetically obvious attempt to knock me down the steps.

Might have worked on someone who wasn't as awesome as me. Nothing is going to make me take a spill down some steps as long as their trying to make it look like a fucking accident.

So, I kept an eye on her and when she went to the bathroom I went in after her, hid in a stall, and when she was leaving, came up behind her and smashed her head into the wall. She never saw me coming. Or going for that matter.

I held back a little since I wasn't try to kill her (bodies showing up at a cheer competition would just be complicated), but I'm pretty sure I gave her a concussion. She seemed pretty unsteady when she finally came out, and when I saw her with her team later they were debating whether or not they'd be able to compete.

There were other attempts made on me. Mostly people blatantly trying to trip me, or just bumping into me for no other apparent reason than to remind that they are bigger than me. I don't think any of it was trying to disable me, just bitches picking on me because I was obviously the youngest girl in the competition.

And then we showed them all what chumps they were by being ten times more awesome than any of those ditzy bitches.

Oh, speaking of bitches. I ended up letting the girls out of the closet a lot earlier than I was planning to.

They kept banging on the door and yelling and shit and the girls in the next room came over wanting to know what the hell was going on.

It really was their own fault though. They should have known better.


	149. Chapter 149

_**Mako's Message: **This chapter is an example of art imitating life. Also, Ch150 will not be appearing until after Ch9 of TorontoBatFan's "War on Crime" is published. Why will be fairly obvious if you follow his as well as mine. More after the chapter._

* * *

I think the stress is finally starting to get to Marcus. It's the only explanation.

I come home from a night on patrol, expecting the usual, quiet, house. Instead, I open the door and hear Marcus yelling, "This isn't funny any more Timmy!" and rattling glasses and plates. He continues on with this rant that was something like, "I didn't mind, really, 'it's winter' I thought, 'he just want's out of the cold,' I said! So I was fine with you. But then you went and ate a big ass hole into my honey wheat bread!" and he grabs the oven and just yanks it's away from the wall and tries to jump behind it. Then he goes along throwing open the cabinets and yelling, "I was even thinking about putting out a little bowl of mouse pellets for you, but now, this is WAR!"

Then, when he finally notices me standing there, wondering if I'm going to have to call the men in the nice white coats, he says, "Oh. Hey. Say, do you think you could hit a, oh, three inch by one inch moving target with those throwing knives of yours?" Like ranting at a mouse and ripping apart the kitchen to get at it is perfectly normal.

Just put out some traps or put down some poison. A mouse, or a loaf of bread for that matter, is not worth breaking shit over.

Anyway, Chris seems to finally have gotten bored with hunting down heroes because he's back to being a general plague on the city. Guess you have to get back to what pays the bills eventually. They've been a little more high-end with their jobs now too. Well, mostly. The random snatch-and-grabs have all but stopped. But truck hijackings are a lot more common. It's actually gotten to the point that some stores have started hiring extra security to watch their trucks. We even got a couple requests. We haven't been able to cover all of them of course, but Uncle John has tried to find people available if he could.

Cheer practice has also toned down a bit. I guess after just winning they decided to give us a break. Knowing Cameron though that's probably not the case. This is probably just what practice was like before the pre-competition push and it just _feels_ easier.

That actually kinda fits how everything feels right now. Like it's gone back to normal. It's weird how "normal" can feel like a vacation.

People are starting to talk about Valentine's Day though, so that's probably going to be short lived. Dave did say that special sundae they had last year is coming back (Riley calls it the "Aphrodisiac Special") and he'd bring me one after work when everything they need for it came in stock though, which is nice of him. Not that I can't afford to go in and buy one everyday, but somehow, I know the one Dave brings me will taste better.

It'd be nice if I could actually try and talk Dave into going out with me on Valentine's Day, even if it wouldn't be a date. Or even just stay in with me. Or spend the day with me in any way just so I wouldn't have to know he's out with Riley.

Yeah, sure, he kissed me on New Years, which was really, really, really nice, but it's not like I can imagine it really meant something when he's out on "the most romantic night of the year" with Riley.

Great. Now I'm in a bad mood.

* * *

_**More Message:**__Firstly, the long overdue winner of the "Mindy Vs. Bed Rest" contest. This was a stupidly hard one to judge. Each story was really good and a joy to read. Each story also had fairly good reasons for me to not pick them._

_Eventually( and I'm still kinda on the fence about this but I have to pick somebody) I decided the winner to _DogbertCarroll_ and his story,_ "It's Hard To Keep a HitGirl Down"_. Specifically, the "Illness" entry._

_Second and third place(don't ask which is which I had a hard enough time picking a winner), are _Laun Mao_'s _"Bed Rest"_ and _TorontoBatFan_'s _"Best Care Anywhere".

_Dogbert(do you mind if I call you Dogbert?), send me a PM with your fic request._

_And on that note, Coasting, if you're still out there, drop me a line please._


	150. Chapter 150

_**Mako's Message:** Well, this is going up sooner than I'd expected. I'd hoped to have the whole arc done before I posted this. As it is, I only have the next four chapters written. They'll be going up every two days(as views peak the day after a chapter goes up) until this arc finishes. After that I'll be taking a short break to write the sequel(of sorts) to Vacation Me and a few other things *coughprizeficscough*._

_This story arc is one I've been looking forward to for awhile and there have been a few teasers hinting at it. And TBF has been bugging me about it for about a year now. So, while I'm very excited to finally get to this point, I'm also kinda nervous about reactions to this. I'll also be adding a bit of trivia after each of these chapters._

_That said..._

_here_

_we_

_go._

* * *

Jessi makes me want to rip my hair out sometimes. I swear to god.

She finally confessed that this guy she's been talking to, that she "met at the library", is someone online that she's never actually met. She said she was too embarrassed about dating a guy online that she didn't want to tell us. Until now. Because she was so excited about finally going to meet this guy for their first date on Valentine's Day.

Angela begged for details and she said he was a college student still living at home in Brooklyn, blah blah blah.

I, of course, decided to look into this guy myself.

First thing I came up with was that the guy is actually THIRTY.

So, I kept poking around and after awhile I realized I couldn't find anything on this guy from more than two years ago. So I kept digging and, with some help from some of the hacker forums Daddy visited to learn everything he taught me, found out, surprise surprise, this is a new identity set up by witness protection.

So, more digging revealed that someone fucked up BIG TIME. Or whatever he had to tell was super fucking valuable. Because guess what? He's a pedophile. And a rapist. And possibly a murderer!

Congrats Jessi, you hit the trifecta!

Guess I'm going to have to pay her friend a visit.

I think I'll drop by just before their "date." It'll be all the sweeter to nail this guy to the wall right when he's at the peak of anticipation. She's supposed to meet him around eight, so it might be a little tight, but I should be able to manage this pretty easily.

God fucking dammit Jessi, you really know how to pick em.

* * *

_**Jessi**** Fact****:** It was originally going to be Angela that ran into problems with online creeps. However, a side remark by a reviewer early in the story made me realize there was so much more I could do with idea and Angela and Jessi kind of switched roles. Angela went from being the "typical teenage girl" to the genki-girl(google it) we all know and love. Jessi, in turn, went from being a background, if hyperactive, character to having a much deeper story._


	151. Chapter 151

_**Mako's Message:** So, a lot of you have been wanting to see Mindy really cut loose. A lot of you have really wanted to see Mindy nail someone to the wall. A lot of you are some seriously twisted fucks._

_I kid._

_Seriously though? This is the chapter where Hit Girl get's to be Hit Girl more than she's ever gotten to be. And, believe it or not, this chapter has been planned since almost the start of the story, so no, a certain Swedish trilogy did not have anything to do with this._

_Enjoy._

* * *

So, that was actually pretty fun.

It was a little harder to find the place than I thought, but I still got there with plenty of time to do what I wanted to do and get home before Jessi showed up.

Unfortunately the guy wasn't home when I got there, but I knew he'd be back soon since that was where he was meeting her, so I decided to poke around his apartment.

Guy is a freak. He had all sorts of leather restraints and chains and rope and tape, and...well yeah. Pretty much everything a guy would want or need if he wanted to kidnap an imprison someone. Not like he had it sitting out though, I had to work to find it. But I wasn't worried about him knowing I went through his shit so if I had to break a lock or rip out a section of wall I did so. Besides, it'd make good evidence.

And I went through his computer and...didn't find much actually. Guess he learned from his mistakes. There were a few pictures of Jessi though. Not nude or anything, thank god, but just...well, Jessi trying to look hot and sexy while still fully clothed. Not that she dresses like a nun or anything. Still, I deleted them. I doubt I was able to eliminate every trace of his connection to Jessi, but I could try.

So, he finally showed up, looking pleased as punch. Bastard even had flowers and a box of chocolates.

When I heard him come in, I just sat in his room and waited for him.

When he finally did come in, his fat ass practically shit himself. Oh yeah. Guy's fat too. Not "DAMN" fat, but he was pretty big.

I just said, "What? I thought you liked having little girls in your bedroom."

And then he tried to run.

I body checked him to the floor from behind and then bolted the door shut. He was still trying to get up by the time I turned around. He looked absolutely terrified so I said, "What? You didn't want to leave did you?"

And then I let that sit for a minute before I said, "C'mere you fat bastard!" and went to grab him. He scrambled up and I chased him around the living room for a few minutes until he collapsed from exhaustion. That was more fun than it should have been. I didn't even have to try to keep up with him. I just kept following while he tried to climb over furniture, open windows(to try and escape or yell for help I don't know. He never had enough time. Especially since I'd locked them ahead of time), and throw shit between us.

So, when he finally couldn't run anymore and fell down gasping for air, I kicked him and said, "That all you got in you you fucking cuntwad?"

He just wheezed in response.

So then I took his handcuffs and cuffed his hands behind his back, grabbed this ball gag thing of his to...gag him, cuffed his feet together, and then started cutting his clothes off.

A quick flick of my balisong later and I was carving, "Pedophile", "Rapist", and just for good measure, "Murderer" into his chest and stomach.

So, then I went through all his creepy perv shit and found some harnesses and pullys and started setting this all up in the living room while he lay there on the floor crying and bleeding. Once that was done I cuffed the cuffs on his feet to the ones on his hands, and then fastened all three to the rope I had strung up and hauled his fat ass up like a big, fat, molesting pinata.

And with him hanging there, I couldn't help notice his dick dangling there. It was one of the most unpleasant things I've ever seen.

So I decided to do something about it.*

I found a skewer in the kitchen, then some paper, wrote, "From your Not-So-Friendly Neighborhood Hit-Girl" on it, and then pinned it through his dick with the skewer.

It looked much better after that.

So, then I left, leaving the front door wide open.

I'm actually looking forward to watching the news for once.

* * *

_**Jessi Fact: **Jessi was never supposed to be particularly pretty. Judging Mindy, Angela, and Jessi solely from the neck up, she'd be the least attractive of the three of them. But considering it's Mindy and Angela she's up against, that doesn't say much. Where she stands out is her figure. She's very thin and leggy, with large breasts. Exactly the sort of figure that people would be prone to perv over or be intimidated by. Which, of course, is one the sources of her problems._


	152. Chapter 152

_**Mako's Message: **Ya know, I've tried a bunch of different versions of this. Jokes. Cryptic statements. Even some commentary on the reviews from last chapter. But I think this is gonna be it._

* * *

Okay, so, wow. Uhm...

So, I was sitting here, still riding high on how I handled Rapey McPedo, when Marcus calls up that I needed to come down right now. But it wasn't that, "You are in so much trouble" voice he uses, it was...well, it was a "you need to get down here right now" voice.

So I get up and head down the steps and Jessi is standing there in the doorway crying.

And as soon as she sees me she reaches out to me and starts crying even harder. And I'm still no good at this. I just..I'm not sensitive like that. I don't know how to handle crying girls.

But I held my arms out to her anyway and she ran over to me and started hugging me and her crying turned into full on sobbing.

I couldn't even say anything because I didn't know what was wrong. Don't get me wrong. I had a couple damn good guesses but the last thing I needed to do was say the wrong thing. And I shouldn't even know about it either way. So, I just jerked my head towards the stairs and Marcus helped me get her up to my room and sitting on my bed.

I shooed him away after that, and he seemed relieved to not be wanted. I don't blame him at all. I spent the whole trip upstairs wondering why she came to me of all people and how fast I could get Angela here.

I just sat there with her for awhile and patted her shoulder as she cried on me. Eventually she started calming down a little so I asked "What's wrong?"

And she wailed, "Nobody loves me!" and started sobbing again.

I gotta admit, that was not the answer I was expecting. I didn't even know what to say to that. Fortunately, with her sobbing like that I didn't have to say anything just then.

So, after another few minutes she calmed down enough for me to try talking again. I tried to say, "Your family loves you." Which was obviously the wrong thing to say because I didn't get any further than, "Your fam" before she screamed, "My family hates me!"

So, of course, like a dumb fuck, I asked, "What do you mean?"

So she said, "My mother left me, my father hates me, and my brother just doesn't give a shit about me. So no. my family doesn't love me."

And I said, "Well they're just assholes then and your life will be better once you're rid of them. You're a great girl, Jessi. You're funny, and sweet, and you're caring. Hell, I try to act more like you. You'll get away from your family and you'll find someone who loves you"

She'd stopped crying for the most part, but she was still sniffling, and she says, "That's what I was hoping for, and then I meet this guy online, who is nice to me, and just talks to me, and is actually interested in my life, and it turns out he's some fat pervert who wants to chain me up in his closest. Nobody is going to love me," and then she starts crying again, but she keeps going, "Every guy in my life only wants to fuck me. I really am no good to anyone except as a fuck toy!"

So, faced with that I said the only thing I could think of, "_I _love you." and she looked up at me and for the first time since she showed up she wasn't crying, so I kept going, "And Angela loves you. And, well, I know Dave and Marty and Todd like you." And that's when I realized she hadn't heard anything but the first part because that's when she kissed me.

Seriously kissed me. Threw her whole self into it. Almost knocked me over.

I was in no way prepared for that and I didn't have any idea what to do because the first thing that came to mind(push her off me) was NOT an option. Before I could come up with something she took her lips off mine and said, "I love you too." Then she tried to kiss me again, but I was prepared this time and I brought my hand up between us.

Jessi looked confused, which was better than crying at least, but I still had to tell her, "I'm not gay." And it looked like she was about to fly apart again so I said, "I don't mind if you are. Or bi, or whatever. I'm just...not." And it looked like that stabilized her a bit, but she was still in the danger zone, so I added, "And, isn't that what you wanted? Someone who loved you, without wanting to have sex with you?"

And then she got real still for a moment, and then she started laughing and crying at the same time. From an outside perspective, it would have been kind of interesting. Probably a textbook example of a hysterical breakdown. But sitting there witnessing it right as it was happening...it was not pretty. And I was actually on the verge of yelling for Marcus when she finally calmed down. A little.

She calmed down enough to talk.

She said, "Thank you. For everything. You've been a great friend," and she hugged me and held on for awhile. I was okay with it. I'd never admit to anyone besides Dave(who is the only one I'll let do it), but I know what it's like to just want to be held for awhile. So I did.

It was kind of awkward though since she's got a good five inches on me, but I let it go. Besides. She may be taller than me but she's still lighter than me.

Finally she picked herself up, sniffed a final time, and said, "I should go home."

I asked, "Are you sure? You could stay for awhile. Eat dinner with us."

She just sorta smiled and said, "No, my dad get's mad if I'm not home when I'm supposed to be."

I said, "Do you want a ride? I'm sure Marcus would take you."

She just shook her head and said, "No. It's okay. I think the walk will do me good." Then she paused and said, "Could I have one of your knives though?"

And I looked over at the shelf where I have a bunch of folding knives sitting on display. There's nothing particularly special about them, just knives from the shop at the mall that I thought were cool. I looked back at her and nodded then walked over to the shelf. I didn't really have to think about which one to give her. I picked it right off the shelf and tossed it to her and said, "Remember that one?"

She caught it and smiled at it and said, "'The evil blade.'"

I bought that knife when it was just me and Jessi at the mall. I picked it up and flicked it open and Jessi's eyes went wide and she said, "Oh, that is e~vil." It really wasn't anything special, six inches long with a barbed tip and halfway down the blade it turns into a saw blade. I offered to buy it for her, since despite saying it was evil looking her eyes were glowing when she looked at it. She refused then, saying she could never have something like that. I just grinned back at her and said, "Consider it an early birthday present."

She flicked the blade open, looked at it for a bit, then closed it and looked up at me, "Thank you."

Then she stood up and came over and hugged me and I said, "It's what friends are for, right?"

Then I walked her to the door and watched her walk down the street.

Marcus came up behind me and said, "You sure you should be letting her go home by herself? That sounded pretty bad."

I wanted to suit up again and follow her. I really did. But for some reason I was sure she was going to be fine. "Yeah. She needs this to clear her head."

Then he said, "You know, not every girl is Hit Girl. She may be older than you but she's still only thirteen."

I said, "She'll be fine."

And right now, I'm really, really hoping I made the right decision.

* * *

_**Jessi Fact:** Jessi's ethnicity was actually up in the air for a very long time. I initially toyed with the idea of her being black, but that through off the "Blonde, Brunette, Redhead" concept I was going for. I briefly considered going the "White, Black, Asian" route, but I didn't want to turn this into The BK Kids Club. As I considered other possibilities (like making her Hispanic, Indian, or Middle eastern) but the more I thought about this the more I realized that if I was going to specify her ethnicity I'd have to _do _something with it. So after awhile, I just decided to let her default to white. But if I was pushed, I'd go with middle eastern._


	153. Chapter 153

_**Mako's Message: **Ten hour shifts and sick children are not conducive to writing. Fortunately, I still have one more complete chapter so I should have 155 up on schedule. There's also a fact in here that I took from...I don't remember. Some cop drama. Might have been CSI or L&O. So take it up with them if I'm wrong._

* * *

I fucked up.

I really did.

Marcus even woke me up this morning to tell me I'd fucked up.

Those where his exact words. "You fucked up."

At first I thought he was talking about the pedo-rapist, but he didn't sound mad mad. Then he told me to get dressed and to meet him down in the kitchen. And that's where he explained just how exactly I'd fucked up.

He was right. I should have followed Jessi. If I'd tailed her I could have stopped what happened.

But, really, how could I have guessed that Jessi was going to go home and kill her family?

Okay, thinking back on it this shouldn't have been such a surprise. But this is JESSI we're talking about. I'd have never thought she had it in her.

Well, technically she only killed her father. The last Marcus heard it could go either way with her brother. For Jessi's sake I hope she succeeded. You almost always get less time for murder than attempted murder.

Of course, letting jessi go home alone wasn't the only way I fucked up.

I gave her the murder weapon.

Oh, and I was also the last person to see her before she did this.

Which is why I spent the better part of the day at the police station answering questions.

"What did she talk about"

"What do you know about the guy she was going to meet?"

"What do you know about her family?"

"Why did you give her a knife?"

"Why did you _have_ a knife?"

"Why did you let her walk home alone?"

"Didn't any of this make you suspicious?"

Fortunately I've taken a few levels in bullshitting and they didn't seem to think there was anything more they could get from me.

After the third, fourth, or twelfth round of questioning.

I still can't believe that Jessi did this.

* * *

**_Jessi Fact:_**_Jessi is in fact bi-sexual and had been harboring a crush on Mindy for quite some time. However, Mindy is the first person she's admitted having these sorts of feelings to. She had a legitimate interest in boys, such as Dillon, unfortunately, most of the boys that weren't complete douches and just wanted to bang her were either intimidated by her(she does have a really nice figure), didn't notice her(she is fairly shy outside of her immediate circle of friends), or intimidated(Mindy can be scary if she doesn't like you). Or in Dillon's case, interested in someone else in the group._


	154. Chapter 154

_**Mako's Message: **As much as I loved the reviews from last chapter, none of you are allowed to say, "I didn't see that coming" or any variation. Doing so will make me think you're not paying attention. And that'd make me sad._

_That said...hope you like this one._

* * *

Holy. Fucking. SHIT.

This has turned into a goddamn circus. Everybody seems to want to get a piece of the story about the little girl hat killed her family. It's fucking national news now.

Okay, well, she only killed her dad. Not that she didn't make a serious fucking attempt on her older brother. But it's close enough for the sensationalists.

Of course, that's not actually good news here. She would have been better off if she'd succeeded in killing her brother no matter which way you slice it. And she really did do it. Even if the cops hadn't found her covered in blood and carrying the murder weapon her brother's testimony would have been enough to prove that.

Some idiot even tried to peg her as being Hit Girl. That didn't last long though. First, there are enough photos and videos of me online for it to be pretty clear that Jessi is too tall. Not to mention eyewitness accounts. Then there's the fact that the only thing the guy had to try and connect the two, was that they figured out that Jessi was supposed to meet the guy I cut up and strung up(who is in jail now, btw. The police found his pedo porn in a box at the back of his hidden closest of depravity). They tried to connect the knives, but of course they couldn't. And then there was the eyewitness that saw Jessi come to the apartment while the cops and medics where there and then run off crying.

Fortunately, it looks like she's got an insanity verdict in the bag.

It also helped that she was also claiming self defense because they'd...

Jesus. You'd think this wouldn't be so hard for me to write.

Jessi's father and brother have been raping her for the last three years.

I'm a terrible friend. I can't believe I didn't do anything. I mean it's not like we didn't know things weren't all peaches and roses at home but we didn't even bother to try and find out what was wrong. Angela and I KNEW something wasn't right, but we just...we didn't do anything. We just...acted like everything was normal. Just like Jessi was.

Goddammit. She was one of my best friends and I didn't do shit to save her.

Some superhero I turned out to be.

* * *

_**Jessi Fact: **As some of you may have noticed, Jessi isn't particularly smart. This is not only another reason for her admiration for Mindy(who is two grades above her age group), but another point of contention between her and her fantastically abusive family, and part of the source of the "good for nothing but" comment she made in 152 which she regularly received from her father.  
_


	155. Chapter 155

_**Mako's Message: **I really don't have anything to say today. So I'm just going to thank everyone for all the reviews and ideas support. I was really worried this story was going to backfire on me, but from your reactions, it looks like I'm going to have a hard time topping this. So, thanks again, and don't forget. Ten reviews between chapters 141 and 160 get you the Jessi Bonus._

* * *

Well.

It's over.

It dragged on about a week longer than it had any right to, but all the publicity kept it going. Kept the prosecution and the defense butting heads trying to get harsher and lighter sentences.

The prosecution thought that having her brother up there, fresh out of the hospital, would help win the jury to his side. And it probably would have. The guy was kind of shell shocked. I'd imagine having the girl you're used to just shoving your dick into whenever you feel the urge turning and trying to gut you would kind of shake up your worldview.

But once all THAT came to light they couldn't exactly shuttle him off so that he couldn't be cross examined.

And of course they had to examine Jessi's girly bits and, well, the doctor didn't go into detail but he said there was undeniable proof of multiple rapes.

The psychologist they had examine her also said that she...well, she's a mess. Said she thought Jessi had been holding herself together rather well until she discovered the guy she had been "e-dating" (her word, not mine) was a sexual predator and she'd had a complete break at that point.

An Aunt came forward during the trial. The Aunt and Jessi's mom had stopped talking years ago and hadn't even known she'd packed up and left. So, after all the discussion and questioning and examinations, Jessi is being..."sentenced", I guess, to intensive outpatient therapy while in the custody of her aunt. In Pittsburgh.

Which is better than being locked up. Not saying it's not. But hearing that she wasn't going to be locked up...and then that she was leaving anyway was kind of a blow.

The really weird thing, the thing I'm still trying to wrap my head around, is that her lawyer had made a public statement saying that Jessi wanted to thank Hit Girl in person for saving her that night.

I mean, first, the fact they actually made the request is just a mind fuck in and of itself, like Hit Girl would actually show up. But then, there's the part of me that says, "How can I NOT go?"

* * *

_**Jessi Fact:** Jessi's theme songs would be, in no particular order, "Stronger" by Kelly Clarkson, "Nobody's Home" by Avril Lavigne, and "Wrong Way" by Sublime._


	156. Chapter 156

_**Mako's Message: **Sorry for the delay on this. I had a horrible weekend and today and yesterday were just over scheduled. It's a minor miracle I'm getting this up at all._

_That said, one of the things I like about writing in this fandom is that I make pop-culture references because the characters would make them._

* * *

Well. That went better than it could have.

I mean, yeah, I scouted the hospital they were keeping her in that morning, found a back entrance, went in the middle of the night and brought all of Justice Forever with me. Hell, the members of Justice Forever were the only people I told about this. But I still felt like there would Cunts, or cops, or the FBI or something waiting to jump me.

I wasn't able to pick the lock on the back door though. Little too high security for me. So Col. Stars went around to the front to get a security guard to let us in. The guard looked like he was torn between having a fan-gasm and calling the cops, but he let us in. Insect-Guy hung back in the alley watching the door and Col. Stars got back in the van to keep the engine running. The Gentleman stayed on the ground floor outside the elevator, Dr. Gravity waited outside the elevator on our floor, White Mage stationed her self at the nurses/security station.

The guard took me to Jessi's room, and said, "These rooms only open from the outside, so, knock when you're ready to come out. I'll be right here waiting."

Dave said, "I'll be right here with him."

And then I was left, standing there, about to walk into a room with one of the few people who had seen me as Hit Girl and Mindy. Well, she was about to. And I was nervous because if she figured out the girl she said she was in love with and the person who she idolized were the same person, I had no idea what she'd do.

So I took a deep breath, wiped all Mindy thoughts aside, and nodded my head for him to open the door.

Jessi was laying in a bed, and the room was mostly dark, the only light coming from outside. She didn't look up at first, and I was worried she was asleep, but then she turned her head to look at the door and she sat bolt upright. I could actually hear her stop breathing for a minute before she said, "You came."

I had to say something, and it had to be something Mindy _wouldn't_ say. I went with, "Well, how could I not show up when you're following in my footsteps? You did good, kid."

She was smiling but it looked like she was about to burst into tears.

"Hey. I meant that. You did good. If I'd known about it I'd have done the same thing you did. Rapist pigs deserve to die. Slowly."

Jessi's smile faded a little and her eyes went distant as she said, "Dad...took a long time to die."

I kinda tripped over what to say to that. It took me a minute but I finally came up with, "It probably just felt like a long time. I heard what you did to him. He couldn't have survived for long."

That didn't seem to perk her up at all so I added, "Hey. Don't feel bad about what you did. You defended yourself from those fuckers. And about time too. Could you really imagine another four years of that?"

She whispered, "I could have run away," so quietly I almost didn't hear her.

"Yeah. You could have. And then what? Lived on the streets?"

"I could have gone to Angela's. Or Mindy's."

I couldn't miss this opportunity, "Who?"

She squirmed a little and looked away, "They were friends of mine."

That stopped me. So, I had to ask, "Were?"

"Well, I'm leaving tomorrow. After that I won't be seeing them again."

I rolled my eyes and said, "There are these things now, called 'phones', they've only been around for a hundred years or so, you might have heard about them?"

"But," and she really sounded like she was going to burst into tears any second, "I'm a murderer now."

"Kid, you killed someone. That's doesn't make you a murderer. If you were a murderer you'd be somewhere a lot less cushy than this right now."

She started to say something but I cut her off at "but" and said, "Look at me. How many people have I killed?"

She kinda stopped and got all shifty again, "A lot?"

"Damn right I've killed a lot of people. Probably three digits worth of people." And I stopped and let that sit for a moment before I said, "And you still wanted to see me."

That kinda got a smile back on her face for a minute before she said, "You're my hero."

It was strange hearing her say that. She'd said it before, like at Homecoming, but hearing her say that to me while I was in costume...it really made me happy, and for once I could really revel in it. I flicked my hair back and struck a heroic pose and said, "Why wouldn't I be?"

She giggled and really smiled at that. Then I got real serious, "You gonna be okay now?"

"I will be. Eventually. It's all a lot to deal with, ya know? It's...the way people look at me now. It's...I don't like it. It's embarrassing."

"The change in scenery will probably do you good. And the therapy definitely will. I think." She just nodded and then I said, "Well, I can't really stick around. So, good luck." and I turned to leave.

She said, "Wait!" and I stopped and turned and she was sitting on her knees, with her hands beside her and staring down at the bed and peaking up at me and she said, "Doesn't the hero get to kiss the girl at the end?"

I was not expecting that. Seriously. Like, HOLY SHIT. I can't believe she said that even knowing she leans that way. The only thing I could respond with was, "What."

And she started drawing circles on the mattress and said, "I wanted to give you a kiss. To thank you."

I shook my head in disbelief, "I don't even know you kid."

"Well, I mean...can't a hero accept a kiss from someone they've saved?"

I had no idea what to do. Sure, if I'd like, saved her from a burning building or whatever and in the moment she'd been all, "My hero!" and kissed me I wouldn't really complain, but the whole "asking permission" thing just kind threw the whole "Heroes Thank You" thing out of whack. But, I knew how she felt about Hit Girl, and I knew that this would probably be the best present I could possibly give her, so I sighed and said, "Okay. One kiss. ONE," holding up one finger, "And don't get any ideas. I'm straight. And keep your hands to yourself. I don't want to have to pull you off me."

Jessi blushed so hard I could tell even in the dim light. Probably picturing just that and more.

So I walked up and I started to lean in towards her and she met me half way and kissed the fuck out of me. She kept her hands on the bed, and she didn't try to use tongue, but she kissed me like it was the last thing she was ever going to do. She was even more serious about it then when she kissed me before. For a moment I was almost jealous that she liked Hit Girl more than Mindy, but then I remembered that A, she had her hands all over me last time and she only got to use her lips this time, and B, I'm not into girls so what does it matter which of my identities she liked more? And of course there's the whole Hit Girl and Mindy both being Me so it didn't make a difference anyway.

And then I could feel tears running down her face just before she pulled away and she smiled at me and said, "I knew it was you."

And I wanted to deny it. I should have denied it. But...fuck. She just seemed so happy and... I just couldn't deny it.

So I dropped the usually raspy hiss I put into my voice when I'm in costume and said, "Yeah, it's me." Then added, "But don't tell anyone or I'll hunt you down."

She grinned, still crying, and said, "Is that a promise?"

And I just glowered at her and said, "Jessi."

And she said, "I wont tell anyone. Ever. I swear."

I sighed and shook my head and then went over to her and hugged her, "Be safe Jessi, and good luck."

And she said, "Thank you Mi- Hit Girl. For everything."

And I nodded and turned towards the door and then she said, "I love you."

I couldn't help smiling and saying, "I love you too," before knocking to be let out.

Dave was the one who opened it, the security guard standing against the opposite wall, and I said, "White Mage! We're done here."

I heard her say, "Been nice chatting with you," before she rejoined us and we headed out.

Back in the van, Col. Stars asked, "So how'd it go?"

I said, "Not at all how I expected. But, I think she's going to be okay."

Alice and Uncle John where the only two who knew I knew Jessi personally, so it wasn't really surprising when The Gentleman said, "That was a right good thing you did, my lady. I'm quite impressed."

And I said, "Yeah, just so long as everybody who saw us go in there keeps their mouth shut. The last thing I needs it people trying to request personal visits."

Alice said, "I had a nice chat with the nurses and orderlies. I don't think that'll be a problem."

Hopefully she's right about that.

Still. Now I have face her again tomorrow in front of Angela when we say our official goodbyes. I'm not really looking forward to that. It's going to be awkward as hell.

* * *

_**Jessi Fact: **Jessi has been jealous of Mindy's relationship with Dave, especially when it was rumored that they were banging. Both because of her personal feelings for Mindy, and because she wanted someone to love her like she thought Dave did Mindy  
_


	157. Chapter 157

_**Mako's Message: **And here we are. Two weeks. Seven chapters. I'm honestly surprised at how well it's gone over. This is going to be hard to top, but i might just have something planned for the future that will do the job. Anyway, I hope you enjoy this conclusion to the "Jessi's Goodbye" arc._

_Bet you all would have had some fun with Ch152 if I'd been titling these arcs huh?  
_

* * *

Well. She's gone.

Off to Pittsburgh.

Angela didn't handle it well. She was practically in tears the whole time.

Jessi did surprisingly well though. Probably helped that it wasn't just me and Angela there to see her off. Angela's parents came too of course. There were a fair number of hugs there. I probably shouldn't surprised by that. She spent a lot of time there. Hell, if Jessi's Aunt hadn't come forward they probably would have offered to take her in.

Dave and Marcus came with me of course, which was almost a disaster. Jessi was pretty much only looking at me, with this horrible expression that was half...I don't know. Adoration? Love? And half- fuck I don't know. It looked like she couldn't decide if she should smile and laugh or start bawling her eyes out. When she looked at Dave though, her face went blank for a moment and then I saw the light-bulb turn on in her head and her jaw dropped. I ran up and hugged her before she could do anything and whispered, "Keep your mouth shut."

Jessi looked at me and nodded quickly.

Marty and Todd came to see her off too. She was really surprised by that, but it wasn't like they didn't consider her a friend too.

What was a surprise to me was that RILEY came too. Jessi was blushing at all the attention and by the end of it she looked like she was on the verge of tears too.

I guess I wasn't holding it together as well as I thought though, since Dave put his hand on my shoulder and pulled me into a one armed hug when Jessi, her Aunt, … I just realized I never got her name. Anyway, Jessi, her Aunt and the guard who was there to make sure she went to Pittsburgh and arrived at her appointment at the psychiatric hospital finally got in the van and left.

Riley offered to treat us all to ice-cream, and we went, because... I don't know. I guess I thought it would help cheer me up. I don't know what everybody else thought.

Dave even made me the Valentine's Special. A few weeks late, but it was nice that he still did it. I can't blame him for waiting though. I wasn't really thinking about anything but Jessi since Valentine's' Day. I couldn't even finish the sundae. Barely ate any of it really. Just sort of sat there with Dave with his arm around me. I couldn't even enjoy that, but it was nice of him to do it.

I don't know why this is hurting so much. I never thought we were that close. I kept my distance because I had my secrets. At least I thought I was. And Jessi had her secrets too. But she's only been gone half a day and already it feels like there's a piece missing.

If I feel like this over Jessi, I hope to god I never lose someone like Dave, or Marcus. I don't know what I'd do.

I wish Dave was still here to hold me.

* * *

_**Jessi Fact: **Jessi has left_ Precocious Crush_. Forever? Perhaps. Or Perhaps not. Her story continues, as do all until they _truely_ end. She will find new friends, new trials, and new love in Pittsburgh. Maybe I'll get to show them you sometime in the future._


	158. Chapter 158

_**Mako's Message:** I'm sorry. I just haven't been able to write. This was kind of a stream of consciousness thing, but I like the results. It's actually made me consider rewriting the last chapter of _Only Her_. No promises._

_Anyway, hope you enjoy the chapter._

* * *

The last month has been kind of a blur. I was running on auto-pilot for most of it. Well, maybe not auto-pilot. I don't know. I just don't really remember much. We'd come in from patrol and I wouldn't be able to remember what we'd done. Fortunately nothing major happened while we were out on patrol. At least, I assume nothing major happened. I'm pretty sure I'd remember running into the motherfucker. And if I didn't Dave would've mentioned it.

Don't get me wrong, I was paying attention, I wasn't distracted or anything. I just wasn't exactly focused on the task at hand. I was thinking about Jessi pretty much all the time. Going over everything, trying to find signs or clues I should have picked up on.

In retrospect, there were a lot.

I just didn't realize what they meant.

I mean, now it's pretty fucking obvious that her dad was dressing her. Or at least buying all her clothes. I should have realized with how uncomfortable she always seemed in the tight pants, and midriff baring and ultimate cleavage t-shirts that she wouldn't be wearing them if she had a choice.

And the pictures, dear GOD the pictures. I just...can't look at them without looking at her eyes and seeing how fucking sad she is. It makes me want to scream and break things and I just have no idea how I missed it. Probably because I was having fun with her and Angela and didn't see passed her smile.

Or it's because whenever I might have looked in her eyes she was looking into mine and, well, she was in love with me.

Even now it's hard for me to focus on anything that's not Jessi.

Dave has been really good to me about all this. He's let me talk about all this without judging me, and when I just want to be held, he's been there for that too. He's also been really good about putting up with me using him as a punching bag. I think I've given him worse beatings these last few weeks than he's gotten from people who wanted to kill him in the last six months.

Speaking of beatings, I beat someone to death two or three weeks ago.

Yeah, sure, "big deal" you're thinking. And it's not. Not really. I've shot, stabbed, bludgeoned, crushed, strangled and drowned people. But this was different. Just a little. I've never done it with my bare hands before. I mean, I've never punched someone until they weren't alive anymore.

I don't even know how it happened. I remember Dave and I were out on patrol, and we went to take care of one of the many, many, requests we get, which was just to chase off these guys who'd been making a nuisance of themselves outside this sandwhich shop and scaring off customers. I remember letting Dave go ahead and tell them to clear off and then...

The next thing I remember is Dave putting his hand on my shoulder and then looking down at the guy I'd been pummeling, and realizing that he was dead. And not just dead, I'd completely broken his face. I had literally destroyed his face. It was just...mush. Nothing but blood, skin, and broken bone.

My knuckles were bruised for a week.

I don't know why I did it. There was nothing special about him. He wasn't a cunt. He wasn't a rapist. Or a murderer or a drug dealer. He was just a guy. I don't even remember the fight starting.

I have no idea what happened with the other guys. Once Dave snapped me out of it he helped me to my feet and we just walked away. I thought he was going to say we should go home, or at least back to the safehouse. Instead he took me up to a rooftop and we just sat there. We didn't talk. We just sat there and watched the sky until the sun came up.

I don't know what I did to deserve him as my friend.

I haven't been on any of the superhero boards, or twitter, or anything since that night. For once I really don't want to hear what people are saying about me. They probably think I'm some sort of deranged psycho now.

Marcus has also been really good about this whole thing. He's been there for me when Dave couldn't be. And he hasn't said a word to me about that night. But when I woke up the next day, there was hot chocolate waiting for me.

Things with Angela are weird. Not, bad weird just...weird. We sit together at lunch, and during free periods, but we don't really talk. Actually, most of the time we don't talk at all. In fact, sometimes we'll call each other and then just sit there on the phone not talking. It sounds stupid but it's nice. I don't know why I don't say more to her. Every time I see her I can think of a dozen different things to say, and then she'll sit down, and we'll just eat our lunch and I can't make myself say anything. It's probably because the one thing I want to say to her the most wouldn't make any sense. I mean, what sense does it make for me to apologize to her for what happened to Jessi? It's not like she knows I could have stopped it.

Cameron's been pretty good about it too. She gets that we're dealing with a pretty big shock, and spent most of the last month too worried about our friend to really focus on anything. But life goes on and next round of the cheerleading competition is next weekend, so she's started pushing us again.

Fortunately, it's not like I've been getting out of shape. If anything I've been pushing myself harder. Just, not with cheerleading. I think I missed most of the practices. Not intentionally or anything, I'd really just forget there was practice.

It was one of the things Angela and I _would_ talk about.

We should be fine though. Angela hasn't missed any practices, even if she's been slacking on her exercise, and I've never had any trouble learning routines. I just have good eye-to-muscle memory.

It's a good thing, this competition, really. I need something to drag my head out of my own ass and back into the real world and being Hit Girl is too much reflex, instinct, and ingrained training to do the job.

And I've missed too many assignments already. I miss any more and I might just end up getting some B's this quarter. Or, horror of horrors, a C!

Not like I'm actually worried about it. I know what I'm going to be doing with the rest of my life. But, not that it's ever actually come up, I know part of the reason he tolerates me being Hit Girl is that I've kept my grades in the top ten percent. I actually think there're only like, five people who have better scores than me in my grade.

Anyway, the cheerleading competition is actually in the city this year (It rotates, apparently, between the three states competing in it) so no road trip or staying in a hotel, thank god. Dave and Marcus both work that day and can't take me( not that I need them to, but ya know, gotta keep up appearances and shit) so Angela invited me to stay over at her house the night before and I'd go with her and her family.

It'll be weird, our first sleepover without Jessi. Hopefully it'll be fun anyway. I could use some fun.

I wonder if there are still ingredients laying around for Dave to make me another of those special sundaes. It's not like I actually got to eat the one he made me before.


	159. Chapter 159

_**Mako's Message****:** I'm sorry for the delay. I'm trying to do better._

* * *

Tonight didn't go as planned at all.

Dave and I have been going out on patrol as usual, because it's not like we're going to stop, but we've been avoiding Justice Forever. Okay _I_ have been avoiding Justice Forever. Dave has been trying to talk me into going to a meeting or on a patrol with them for a couple weeks now.

But I've had no interest in seeing them. Whatever they had to say to me about anything, I didn't want to hear it.

Tonight though I didn't have a choice in the matter.

We bumped into Col Stars, White Mage, and Insect-Guy on the street.

A part of me considered running but that would have just been childish. And they would have chased me, probably, and then people would see Justice Forever chasing Hit Girl and...it would have looked ridiculous and would not have helped my image at all.

Stars looked like he was going to say something to me, but then stopped and pulled Dave off to the side and started talking to him quietly. That's when Alice came over and stood in front of me. She just stood there, looking at me quietly and sorta smiling, and she reached out and put her hand on my shoulder, sighed and said, "Mindy," and then she grabbed me by my ear and almost twisted it right the fuck off!

And then she dragged me off into an alley and I had no choice but go with her unless I wanted to lose my ear. Or stab her. And we weren't quite at that point yet.

So she's talking the whole time but the only part I catch is, "What are we going to do with you?" And as soon as she let go I pulled one of my pistols on her but she just grabbed it right out of my fucking hand, dropped the clip out and said, "Can you stop acting like a child for five minutes?"

Of course I snapped back, "I'm not acting like a child."

And she said, "Oh please. From what Kick-Ass has said you've not only been avoiding us, but any mention of you in the news or online, you barely talk to anyone but him, you've been skipping your practices, you're spacing out on patrols, and you refuse to even talk to him about that guy you killed! You're avoiding if not just flat out disregarding your responsibilities in favor of sitting around and moping! And that's just childish."

I yelled, "Fuck you! Who the hell do you think you're talking to?"

She said, "I think I'm talking to a girl who spent half her life training to be a hero, who lost her father, just lost a close friend, and doesn't know how to deal with any of this because until two years ago her life was nothing but her father and training." Then she stopped and sighed and said, "Look, we give you a lot of leeway because we all know that you're the best fighter on our little team, probably the best trained, have more dedication to this than all of us, minus Kick-Ass, have combined, and would be out here doing this whether you had a partner or not. But you have to take some responsibility for what happened, admit when you have a problem, and come to us for help."

I said, "I don't have a problem."

She said,"Like fuck you don't!", then she sighed and she started to call me "Mindy" but corrected herself and said, "Hit Girl, you punched someone in the face until their head was mush. That concerns us. We're worried about you. I'm worried about you."

I told her "You don't need to worry about me. I'm FINE."

So she asked, "Then why have you been avoiding us?"

And I didn't have a response. Well, I did, just not one I could give.

Once it was obvious I wasn't going to answer she said, "Look, you crossed a line when you killed that guy. I'm not gonna lie about that. But you crossed another line when you didn't stop hitting him before you'd pulped his skull. I'm kinda scared to think about how long you'd have kept it up if Dave hadn't snapped you out of it honestly. Whatever is bothering you, you have to let us help you. We can't afford another incident like that. YOU can't afford another incident like that. We've been getting asked for a statement about it since everybody knows you work with us, but Stars has been refusing to give one because _he wanted to talk to you first. _You have to help us help you. People are starting to think you're-"

And then she shut right up but even though I knew she hadn't wanted to tell me whatever it was I said, "They're starting to think I'm what?"

She actually cringed before she started speaking again, "Before I say this, you need to know that you still have a lot of fans, some people even like you MORE now, and-"

That's when The Guardian decided to announce his presence by saying, "People are starting to think you're nothing but an attack dog and Kick-Ass is your handler." and he stalked over to us saying "And the people that ALREADY didn't want us out here are using it to paint us ALL as deranged psycopaths, so give me one good reason I shouldn't drag your ass to the nearest police station!"

And I snapped "I'd like to see you try!"

And he did. He grabbed me, and I knocked his hands away and went for a knee to the groin, but he blocked it and...honestly I don't remember every move and counter move we made it happened so fast. All reflex and instinct. But I obviously missed a block somewhere because he knocked me into the wall.

Before we could engage again White Mage jumped between us brandishing her hammer and yelled, "Keep your hands off her or I'll cave your fucking head in!"

I don't know if she thought I didn't notice she was positioning herself to stop me from getting to him just as much as was blocking him getting to me, if not more, but I did.

And of course by then we had Dave, Stars, and Insect-Guy's attention, and The Gooch-ian looked over at Stars and said, "Keep a tighter muzzle on your bitch or I'll do it for you."

I really wanted to put the asshole in his place, but a part of me realized that I had to control myself and not punch his face in or I'd just be proving him right. Not to mention I didn't want to disappoint Justice Forever.

Not that I need to prove myself to them or anything. I've just gotten used to being part of a team.

And Stars has these little chocolate cookie things that he puts out at meetings that are just awesome and I have no idea where he gets them.

Anyway, Dave stepped up then and said, "Look, I don't know what's going on here, but if you hurt her, I'm gonna put you in the hospital."

And I couldn't help smiling a little at that, because it just reminded me so much of the night we met and how he'd tried to threaten Rasul with his voice cracking and just how far he's come since then that he's actually threatening now.

And then Col. Stars said, "Kick-Ass, there's no need for that. The last thing we should be doing is fighting amongst ourselves." Then he walked over to The Guardian and put an arm around his shoulder and steered him off down the alley talking low enough that I couldn't hear him.

So then White Mage came over and handed me a little scrap of paper and said, "That's my phone number. And not the number to the shitty little thing Stars gave me, my actual phone number. I get that you don't want to talk, and if you did you'd go to your friend over there, but I served in the mid east for five years. I've seen people go through what you're going through. I can help."

I took the paper but I didn't say anything. I wanted to snap at her, but that just made me realize she was right.

There's just this...ache in my chest, like someone has their hand around my heart and is squeezing and twisting and I just don't know what to do.


	160. Chapter 160

_**Mako's Message:** Ah. Chapter 160. This set of twenty has taken a long time, despite a seven chapter blitz. So, just a reminder that if you want the Ch160 bonus you have to qualify by the time Ch161 is posted. Not that this has inspired a flurry of reviews since the first bonus announcement around Ch12, but I've picked up a fair number of new readers lately and just want to remind them._

_Anyway, hope you enjoy this chapter...and i mean no slight to Pittsburgh, I just know how New Yorkers view most places that...aren't New York._

* * *

It's strange how you forget about things sometimes. Kind of like the things that you just take for granted, but not quite like that. I'm talking about the things that an outside observer would notice, but you don't even think about. Or maybe it's just that you don't realize it. Too involved in your own crap to actually see what's going on around you.

Like what your friends are going through.

Marcus had another one of those stupid grins on his face when Angela and her Mom picked me up for our sleepover before going to the cheer competition. I call it his, "Mindy is being normal" grin.

And I didn't want to spend the weekend barely talking to Angela, so I _was_ trying to be happy and normal too, so, maybe it wasn't his usual "Mindy is being normal" grin where "normal" means "like other girls her age" but maybe this time it meant, "Mindy is being her normal self"

It didn't really help though. We did everything we'd normally do, but there was a hole we couldn't ignore.

We were just laying across her bed, listening to one of her youtube playlists, when she said two words I'd been wanting to say since the day it happened, "I'm sorry."

I didn't know what she was talking about so I asked, "Sorry about what?"

And she said, "About Jessi" and then she kinda choked and I could tell she was trying not to cry, but she kept going, "I didn't notice anything was wrong and I should have. She's been my best friend since fourth grade but I still didn't see what was happening. I mean..I can even remember when it started. I can fucking remember it. I knew she was acting different I just had no idea what it meant. I thought, ya know, later, once she started getting taller and her boobs started growing, that it was puberty. That she'd gotten her period or something and that was why she'd started acting all weird. But then she'd be herself again. She'd be happy and affectionate and she'd be the same as she used to be. And when she'd get withdrawn, or sad, or angry, and just didn't want to talk, I figured it was just mood swings and shit. Ya know? But now I think she was trying to...I don't know. Force herself to be normal. To forget what was going on.

"And the way her dad was always late to pick her up, if he came at all. And how she always wanted to spend as much time out of her house as she could. And she almost never talked about her family. I figured she wasn't happy at home, but my parents treated her almost like a second daughter. If there was something wrong, like really wrong, I was sure she'd tell us.

"But I was wrong, and I didn't say anything, and I let her keep getting-"

And that's when she started crying too hard to continue.

And since she went and said all that, I decided I had something I had to confess as well, "She told me."

Angela stopped crying immediately and sat up and blinked at me. She said, "What."

And I said, "She told me her family hated her. She told me every guy in her life only wanted to fuck her and that she really wasn't anything more than a fuck toy." and then I laughed (not a "haha that's funny" laugh, a "I can't believe this is happening and I'm about to cry" laugh. And not the good kind either.) and said, "And then I let her go home."

Angela was just staring at me so I said, "Of course, I didn't realize how serious she was, or that she didn't just mean her boyfriends...but I still let her go."

And she asked, "When did she tell you this?"

And I said, "On Valentines day. After she found out about her boyfriend," and then I laughed again, and this time it was kind of a "haha that's funny laugh", except that what was funny was what felt like some sort of cosmic joke at my expense, "And right before she told me she was in love with me."

And she just starred at me, wide eyed and pale, and said, "That's not what you said in court."

So I said, "Of course it isn't. Do you think I'd really I'd say anything that might fuck up her self defense plea?"

Then she asked, "Why did you let her go?"

And I sighed because I didn't know. I remember watching her walk down the street wondering if I'd made the right decision...but I couldn't remember why I'd made that decision. So I said, "I don't know. I invited her to stay the night. I offered to have Marcus drive her home. But she insisted on walking home alone. She said it would do her some good, that she needed to think. I guess I just accepted it. A long walk on a cool night helps me."

And then Angela sat there real quietly, just looking at me, and then she said, "I don't think it would have made a difference. If she didn't tell you or Marcus what was happening then...I don't think she ever would have. So even if she stayed the night, she would have still gone home, and then...either it'd have happened anyway or she'd still be there. At least now she's getting help."

And I just shrugged and said, "Maybe" because I wasn't going to tell her that if she'd told me what was really going on I'd have killed them myself. Fuck, what I did to that fat rapist fuck hole would've just been a warm up.

And then we went back to sitting there in silence, until I noticed her smirking at me and I said "what?"

And she said, "So what were you saying about Jessi being in love with you?"

And all I could do was sit there and think "FUCK! Why did I have to mention THAT?"

But Angela wouldn't let it go, so I told her about how I'd said that I love her, and she took it the wrong way and kissed me.

And Angela pumped a fist in the air and cried, "I knew it! I knew she had a thing for you!" and then she was in full gossip mode, "Did you kiss her back? What did you say?"

And I didn't want to talk about it, but Angela was smiling and her old self again, and, I thought, "If she's like this even for a little bit, it'll be worth it."

So I told her about letting her kiss me, and stopping her before she could do it again, and telling her that I didn't mean I loved her _that_ way. Angela actually "aww"'d in disappointment at that. I didn't tell her about her hysterical breakdown after that though.

Then she asked if Jessi had called me yet. I told her she hadn't then asked is she'd called her. She hadn't, so we started thinking up reason's why. We finally decided that she was just having so much fun in Pittsburgh that she'd forgotten all about us.

We managed to keep our faces straight for about ten seconds before we burst out laughing because, I mean, c'mon, it's Pittsburgh.

And from there we actually managed to make it seem like a normal sleepover. Normal enough that Angela's Mom had to come in and tell us to go to sleep at least.

And it is pretty fucking late, and we do have the competition tomorrow, so I guess this is where I wrap it up for the night.


	161. Chapter 161

_**Mako's Message: **Delays delays delays. And rewrites. I actually scrapped this twice. So, hopefully it's good now._

_I enjoyed writing this chapter, because...well, I'm not saying I'm always correct in my reasoning, or that I think as hard or research as much, I should, but I do try to put a lot of thought and logic into this story, so the actions of the cheerleaders in this chapter amused me greatly._

_Anyway, anytime I have some big thing planned for this space it always goes out the window as soon as I start typing so here's the chapter. Hope you enjoy it._

_Oh, I should probably also mention that I've never actually seen or read The Hunger Games and I'm just bullshiting my way through these cheer competitions. So don't hurt me over any inaccuracies, `kay?_

* * *

Today was fun.

For the most part.

Angela's Mom made waffles with strawberries and whipped cream for breakfast, which was awesome

And since we didn't have to be at the competition until a couple hours before we went on we were able to avoid all the "socializing" crap which is really just a bunch of attempts at intimidation and sabotage. I guess that's the home field advantage.

Everyone was really nervous, which I didn't understand. Cameron explained that it was because the other teams we were going up against were all the top three in their state. I still didn't get it because we totally smoked those bitches in the last one. It wasn't even a contest. The girls on this team need more self confidence.

I almost tripped over myself on the way out to perform when I suddenly heard Dave cheering for me. Which would have been a really horrible fucking way to start the performance. It was great to see Dave out there in the crowd though. It really made me bring it. He hardly ever makes it to games, so he's only seen me do this a handful of times.

The other girls noticed, unfortunately. Especially Angela. After the performance they were all asking what had gotten into me to make me perform like the perfect cheerleader.

It's the only problem they have with my performance on the team. I'm able to do bigger stunts, and because I'm smaller I can be tossed higher, and we've been able to make taller pyramids, but I always get told I need to get more into it.

Anyway, after our performance Dave came around to meet us "backstage". Angela seemed to put two and two together. The other girls...started flirting with Dave. At least the single ones did.

It's not like I can blame them. He's hot. And even though he was wearing a button up shirt, like usual, it was open, as usual, and the t-shirt he had on underneath it was _really_ thin. So...yeah. The girls were appreciative.

And very touchy.

And unobservant. Dave wasn't appreciating the attention. He looked kinda overwhelmed, honestly. Like a fantasy had come true and he had no idea how to handle it. I had to resist the urge to grab a stick and start fighting them off.

Instead I just forced my way to his side, grabbed his arm and dragged him off to where we could sit down and talk. Alone.

First thing I asked was, "How did you make it? I thought you had to work."

And he shrugged, and said, "Work was unusually slow today, and since the owner was there to take car of some things, he told us one of needed to go home, and Riley just shrugged at me before saying, 'I have rent to pay, so shoo.' And since I didn't have anything else planned for today I decided to come watch you."

I asked if he was okay with missing work and he just waved it off, "She's right, I don't have any real bills to pay. Just my phone and putting gas in the car. Besides, this is a big thing for you, right? I wanted to be here for you."

I just rolled my eyes at him, "It's not _that_ big. It's only regionals. Ask me how I feel when we make Nationals."

He smirked at me and said, "'When' not 'if'?

So I looked at him like he was stupid and said, "Of course 'when'. Weren't you paying attention out there? We're fucking awesome."

Dave laughed, "Yeah, you were. I don't think I've ever seen a girl do a somersault while being tossed from one pyramid to another."

So, while we talked the rest of the team watched the rest of the performances, and when it was time for the winner to be announced Dave went back to the stands.

They announced third place first, then second, leaving the rest of the teams quivering in their booties waiting to see if they lost. Not me though. I knew we had it in the bag. So when they announced we'd won I was the first to step up to collect our trophy while the other girls freaked out.

I was standing up there by myself for at least five seconds before anyone else even started up.

I don't think it would have been possible for me to roll my eyes hard enough to express my annoyance, but dammit I tried.

Once they were all done jumping up and down and squeeing like little girls, Cici came over and asked, "So...there's really nothing going on between you and Dave?"

And I said, "No. We're just friends." I couldn't keep from growling it though, so hopefully she thinks I was just annoyed at being asked about it again and not that it was the truth.

But then she was like, "So he's single." and ran over and invited him to come with us to celebrate, which pissed me off even more because I was going to do that and if _she_ did it he was probably going to say no.

But then he looked over at me for a second before saying, "Sure." So, that made me happy.

We didn't go anywhere special. Just the first restaurant we found, don't even remember what the name of the place was, but it had sundaes and that's all I needed.

And I got to sit next to Dave, which he honestly seemed to be as happy about as I was. Of course, that meant I had a front row seat to the girls flirting with him. Eventually I snapped and said, "He has a girlfriend you know."

And Dave just suddenly perked up, "Yes! I do. I have a girlfriend. She's awesome. Sorry."

Everyone except Jackie cut it out after that. Which isn't a surprise. She's such a slut. She's gonna get her ass kicked off the team if she doesn't cut that shit out.

After everyone had finished with whatever they'd ordered, and we were just sitting around talking Dave got up and said, "Well, I'll leave you girls to your celebration." Everyone was so~o disappointed and tried to talk him into staying, except Cameron and Coach Baum, who just sort of smirked at everyone.

Not that I wanted him to go myself, but I was seriously starting to doubt my ability to sit there and watch him get hit on without punching a bitch out.

And then, just when he's about clear of the table he turns around and asks, "Oh, Mindy, did you want a ride home?"

And I was like, "Uh, yeah," and hopped up and threw a few bucks down on the table for my ice cream and a tip and was out of there almost before I could say, "Bye girls, see you at practice."

As we walked out Dave said, "Are you sure you couldn't have taken any longer? I think you might have left your clothes behind."

And I was like, "Oh shut up. They're okay for the most part but I can only take so much of them at once."

And he laughed and said, "I could tell."

Then when we were getting in the car he asked, "So, you wanna go see a movie or something?"

And I think my brain broke because all I could think for I-have-no-idea-how-long, "Oh my god is he taking me on a date?"

It wasn't until Dave poked me in the face that I finally snapped out of it and said, "Yeah, that sounds awesome."

There wasn't anything we wanted to see though, so we ended up going to The Hunger Games because...why not? It was supposed to be good and...it was...I guess...but the whole thing kinda struck me as stupid. I mean, wouldn't The Hunger Games just incite them to rebel again? They're turning all these kids into killers and corpses anyway. And even if it didn't, you'd think every parent would be training all their kids to...well, be me. If for no other reason than try and make sure their kid came home.

But the real fun was that Dave and I snarked at each other about it the whole time.

Unfortunately, it was a non-patrol school night, so it had to end earlier than I wanted it to since these are supposed to be the days we rest up and shit.

Would have been nice if we could have spent the night together, but then, if I had my way we still wouldn't have gotten any rest.

* * *

_**Mako's Additional Message: **Reviews have been tallied, all 623 of them, and out of the 104 of you that posted reviews, 33 of you earned the bonus. I'll post the full list on the next chapter(would have been this chapter but it was either post it with no list or wait another day...and the bonus isn't finished yet anyway). Thanks for all your support!_


	162. Chapter 162

_**Mako's Message:**_No_ list this time either. Battery's dieing. No time. Hope you like the chapter. Turned out better than expect for once._

* * *

I'm kind of ashamed of myself for enjoying today so much, but it was just so much fun.

It wasn't the best day of my life or anything, and I can think of a few days that were better just off the top of my head.

But today was still great.

Like every Sunday, it started with a long run through the park. And we were finally starting to get daylight during it too, so, while lamp light may be romantic under some circumstances, it's really nice to have a sunrise as our lighting.

Dave has gotten used to the weights he's been wearing. I told him to only increase the weight by five pounds though, because I know if I told him to throw another ten on he'd put on twenty since he's really been taking his resolution to catch up to me seriously. Guess I'll have to put on another fifteen when I stop feeling my weights again.

It was pretty warm today too, so after we had a cool-down spar we laid out on the grass together for the first time in months. He laid down first and put his arms behind his head, and then I laid down and used his chest as pillow, and then he put his arm around my stomach and gave me a little squeeze and we just laid there like that and it was perfect. Anybody who saw us would've thought we were a couple. I wish I could have rolled over and kissed him and just spent the morning making out in the grass.

But I was tired from the run, and so was Dave, and the sun was warm and I just couldn't make myself move. We ended up falling asleep together.

Waking up nuzzled into Dave was great too. Haven't done that in awhile either. Though, I suppose I should be happy we haven't had any nights where we were so worn out we couldn't make it home.

When we woke up, Dave thought we should get going, but I said, "I don't want to go anywhere. It's a beautiful day out, can we just spend the day here?"

And Dave thought about it and said, "Well, I think there's a frisbee in the car. You want to call up your friends and see if we can get a big game going?"

Now, this wasn't exactly what I'd had in mind, but the more I thought about it the more it started to appeal to me. I dunno why. Just the idea of Dave and I playing in the park, even if it was with other people, just seemed like a great day to spend the day.

Not the best way I could think of, but I liked it enough to agree to it.

So Dave called Marty and Todd and I called Angela and then on a whim I decided to invite Dillon too. He was surprised by the invitation but I was like, "Are you gonna come or not?"

Then he said, "Well, is it okay if Lexi come too?"

And of course I said it was. Why would I care if he brings his girlfriend? It's not like I'd be jealous or anything.

So while we were waiting for everyone to show up, Dave and I walked around a bit and we got some smoothies and talked about nothing.

So Marty and Todd showed up with Angela and we set up a game where whoever had the frisbee called out someone's name and if that person caught it they got a point. If anybody else caught it they got two points.

And it was kinda stupid how competitive we all got over it. I mean, the only way you could win was to catch frisbees meant for someone else, but you could also never win if you didn't catch the ones with your name on it, so it got to the point that were seriously fighting over it. But it was so much fun!

Dave and I were really giving each other work outs too. We were calling each other's name and throwing in the complete opposite direction. Didn't take long for everybody else to start doing that too since we kept snagging everybody else's frisbee.

And then Marty yells, "Mindy!" and hauls back like he's gonna hurl the thing across the park so I get ready to start running for it and then I hear, "Two points for Dillon!" I turn around and Dillon is standing there, like, five feet in front of Marty holding the frisbee and looking confused and everybody else is just laughing their asses off.

Marty can be such a dick sometimes.

So we gave Dillon and Lexi twenty points each, which was a rough average of what everyone else had. Lexi really got into it too. She seemed to have formed some sort of rivalry with Angela for some reason since she always doubled her efforts to steal the points from her. So of course Angela worked extra hard to steal them right back.

So, it ended up being Me Vs Dave and Angela Vs Lexi with Marty, Todd, and Dillon almost being spectators. They only called each other's name every now and then like they would forget they were supposed to be playing too.

Marty wasn't doing too bad, but Todd and Dillon seemed to be competing for _last_ place. To be fair though, Marty has been working to stay trim since his coma induced diet and Angela was probably the only person there that came close to being as fast as Dave and I, and Angela kept pushing Lexi so... I guess I should really just be impressed that they got as many points as they did.

Then when Angela was getting ready to make a throw, Marty ran over and whispered something in her ear that made her grin like an evil little bitch. So she looks over at Dave and Me, yells, "Dave OR Mindy!" and throws the thing like she's trying for a goddamn world record.

The thing sailed right over us and just kept going. Now, I was standing further away from Angela than Dave, so I thought for sure I'd snag it, but despite the fact that I have better reflexes, quicker hands, and over all better endurance...when it comes to flat out running from point-a to point-b, Dave has me beat. It's not like it's my fault. His legs are longer than mine.

So we're running after the frisbee, and then just when it starts to come down to where I can grab it and Dave still hasn't quite caught up enough to get it before me...

The son of a bitch grabs me and lifts me up and tucks me under his arm before swinging me up over my shoulder and keeps running.

And I screamed and giggled like a little girl.

Neither of us caught the frisbee obviously.

When he put me down I was grinning like an idiot and said, "Not that I mind, but the next time you grab my tits could you go a little easier on them?" while rubbing at them. Cause he really did kinda rough them up a bit but whatever, I've suffered worse injury.

And that's when Angela comes jogging up with the rest of them(cause _somebody_ needed to get the frisbee which rolled off somewhere) and says, "What tits?"

So I flipped her off.

Dave looked like he was trying not to blush.

Not long after that Dave had to go into work so I ended up just hanging out with the rest of them for a while, but it wasn't as much fun and With Dave gone my motivation to win the game just kinda ceased to exist. I probably won anyway.

So, Marty drove us all home, but not before we made plans to go see this new movie coming out that Todd was going on about. I don't remember the title though. Dark something.

Hopefully it'll be fun.


	163. Chapter 163

_**Mako's Mini Message:** I have no regrets and make no apologies._

Tonight was interesting.

Chris and his minions have been making themselves scarce lately. Maybe he's not crazy enough to want to take on the military after all so he's been letting the heat die down. Maybe he's running low on minions and working on recruiting for another big assault on the city. Or maybe he just got bored. Who the fuck knows.

Point is, The Cunts have been all but absent from the streets of New York for at least the last month so we've gone back to our usual patrol groups so we can cover more ground. Which means it's just been me and Dave again.

Which has been cool. Even if we've just been chasing down noise complaints, chasing off stalkers, and other boring shit. It rare for us to find someone we actually get to kick the crap out of. Maybe once or twice a week we come across a mugger, or some drunk and angry motherfuckers who're looking for a fight. And I have to admit, running into some guy who hates us superhero types and is just drunk enough to be stupid are my favorite fights. It's like bullfighting only not as dangerous and way funnier. But for the most part it's just me and Dave patrolling the city, and getting to actually be ourselves and talk.

Wow. When I actually write that it sounds totally lame.

Anyway, tonight was NOT lame.

We ran into that new gang that's been posting their fight videos online. The Blood Knights.

Turns out their basically sportsmen. They literally just go out looking for fights. They don't care if you're a good guy or a bad guy. Well, they do, it's just that if you're one of the good guys, they just challenge you to a one-on-one fight, but if you're a criminal they all jump your ass, no matter the numbers.

Which is what happened tonight.

We ran into them and they immedietly blocked our path, and one of them stepped forward, and said, "Hey, Kick-Ass, Hit Girl. How's it going? Up for a fight? One-on-one. Me and Kick-Ass. If he wins, one of my boys steps up. If I win, I go against Hit Girl."

And I'll admit I was interested in the idea. On the one hand I'm always looking for an opportunity to kick someones ass, but they didn't exactly say what the ruled were, or if there even were any besides "one-on-one" and in every fight there's always a risk and I wasn't sure I wanted to take that risk just for shits and giggles.

They didn't really give us a choice though. With six of them they were able to surround us and not let us pass. So, after one failed attempted, Dave just looked at me sighed, then turned to the leader and said, "Fine, you want a fight, you got a fight."

Dave and I exchnaged a quick glance where I asked him if he was sure about this and he said he was so I went off to the side with the other Blood Knights. Which, in retrospect, was a mistake. And one I will not be making again.

So, Dave and this guy squared off, and that's when we both learned something that should have been obvious. Anyone who fights for the sake of fighting is going to be good at it.

But Dave has gotten pretty fucking good over the last year so I wasn't worried. At first.

After a few seconds I realized Dave was almost entirely on the defensive. Which I thought was weird, because I didn't think this guy was that much better than Dave, so I figured Dave was just feeling the guy. Maybe trying to wear him out.

But then Dave started _losing_. He kept taking hits and wasn't landing any of his own. And I started to get seriously worried that Dave was going to get his ass beaten by this guy.

Which is probably why I didn't notice the other Blood Knights had flanked me.

So then Dave takes a hit to the face and stumbles back and the other guy winds up for spinning back kick and I start to rush in to stop it, and the four other guys grab me, They weren't fucking around about it either. They were waiting for me to make a move and when I did I got grabbed by both arms and both legs.

So I had to watch as dave took a kick to the gut that lifted him off the ground and knocked him back about two feet where he fell onto his hands and knees, coughing and gasping for air.

And so now the head Blood Knight or whatever starts pacing back and forth saying things like, "Oh come ON! Really? You're supposed to be one of the best in the city man, and THIS is all you have to offer? That's fucking pathetic man! You got anything to say for yourself before I knock you the fuck out, Ass-Kicked?"

Ya know, I just figured out why my Dad completely failed at making that joke. He just called him "Ass-Kick". Trying to explain it didn't make it any better. I must have gotten my sense of humor from my mom.

Anyway, Dave had pulled himself up onto one knee and was still trying catch his breath when he held up a finger and gasped out, "Just...one...thing." But it was so quiet I could barely hear him. And what he said next I couldn't make out at all, I just saw his lips move.

So the guy said, "What?" and came closer, so Dave repeated himself.

I guess he still couldn't hear him cause he came closer and leaned over and said, "Speak up fucker, I don't got all night and I've your bitches ass to beat too."

And that's when it all fell away.

His whole body coiled, he brought his fist up and connected directly under the guy's jaw as he came to his feet, lifting the guy right off of his and shouted "SHORYUKEN!"

And it really fucking was too. He didn't just stand up, he came up off the ground, with his fist still shoved right into the guys jaw, and then he twisted his arm and that knocked the guy back and he fell back and landed on his head. And Dave managed to pull it into a 180 and land on his feet looking like he hadn't taken a single hit.

Aside from the split lip and what was probably going to be a wicked black eye.

And he looked over at me, and I suddenly realized I'd spaced out at seeing Dave doing something that was actually AWESOME and that the other Blood Knights had loosened their grip on me, so I pulled free and flattened them in five seconds flat.

So while they were trying to pick themselves up I went over and took the camera off the one who was filming it as a souvenir. He didn't really argue with me about it.

I gotta admit I was really proud of Dave. He's come so far since he first put that suit on it's almost unbelievable. I couldn't stop myself from grinning about it and finally just punched him in the shoulder and said, "You were playing him the whole time weren't you."

I think Dave blushed, it was hard to tell with the bruises, and said, "Kinda, yeah. I mean, he was good but he doesn't hold a candle to you," I almost hate how stupidly fucking happy I get when he compliments me, "And I've been...practicing that for awhile now. I was never willing to risk trying it in a real fight though, and I sure wasn't going to try it out when sparing with you."

And I said, "Why not?"

And he said, "Well, aside from the fact that if I hit you with it and it worked it would have really hurt you, it's embarrassing." and then he DID blush.

And I was like, "What are you talking about! That was the most awesome thing I ever seen you do! I can't wait to get home and watch this!"

"Yeah, well, what if I'd fucked it up? I would have looked like a fucking moron. I almost didn't go through with it until he insulted you."

And again he had me grinning like an idiot and I put an arm around him and said, "Ya know, that's one of things I like about you. You're not afraid of making yourself look like an idiot."

Dave scoffed and said, "Yeah, thanks for that."

And when I did get home, the first thing I did was check out the video. And once I saw that me getting restrained wasn't on film, I posted that shit onYouTube.

It's already got like, 5,000 views.

_**More Message:** The Ch160 Bonus is really giving me problems. But I'm still working on it, and once it's done these 33 loyal reviewers will be receiving it. _

Artemis zodiac

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_If you haven't gotten one before, please send me a PM with your e-mail address in the following format: YourAddress _

_If you HAVE received a bonus chapter before, I should have your e-mail. I'll let you know later if I can't find it._

_Also, a new story will be going up either today or tomorrow. I highly recommend that you check it out._


	164. Chapter 164

_**Mako's Message: **So...how many of you are familiar with the phrase, "I reject your reality and substitute my own"?_

_I ask this because I was reading a review of Kick-Ass 3, issue 1, and it actually started to make me nauseous at how off canon I was. I think my body was literally rejecting reality in favor of my own. That _can't_ be healthy..._

_I also have two bits of actual news for you all. I know, shocking, right?_

_The first is that _Marx810 _posted up a story that is an expansion of one of my PC spin off, Toxic. It's called _Trip Like I Do_ and is very much worth your time._

_The second is that you may have noticed some of the videos I've mentioned no longer exist. I'm currently working on remedying that(finally) and the first one is on YouTube under the title _Dave Belongs To Mindy(watch?v=8D4rCqIe89I)_._

_More after the chapter._

* * *

I don't know how I get myself into these things.

Actually, I know EXACTLY how I got into this.

It was Angela's fault.

Cheerleading practice was over, we were going through some cool down stretches and simple exercises, and then she just blurts out, "So what're you doing for your birthday?"

And everybody heard her.

So everyone starts gathering around wanting details, and someone says, "I didn't know your birthday was coming up, how old are you going to be anyway?"

And Angela decides to talk in my place and say, "She's going to be thirteen, finally. Feels like she's been 12 for a year and a half. It's about time she finally stopped being a preteen," and put an arm around me and tried to give me a noogie. That didn't end well for her. Nothing permanent, just a reminder not to treat me like a little kid.

Kay sunk her head into her hands and said, "I can't believe I've been getting shown up all year by a 12-year-old."

And the rest of the girls started asking me how I ended up in High-School at twelve. It was hard for them to believe I skipped a grade twice, but, there I was, so they had to. Then they started asking what I was doing for my birthday. I just wanted to go out to a movie with my four closest friend, but that wasn't good enough. They seemed to think that despite my age, as a "star cheerleader", I wasn't "allowed" to have a "lame" birthday.

I didn't even want to be on the fucking team!

I mean, sure, it has it's benefits. Guys seem to have a natural hard on for cheerleaders so the fact half the male population of this school ends up checking me out certainly helped Dave get through the rest of the school year after that stupid pedo rumor. And cheerleading does help justify my abilities, a little.

It's made Marcus happy. And I think it's made Angela and I closer.

I mean, we've been close for awhile, obviously, but now we have something we can talk about like Dave and I talk about crimefighting.

Even if our interest in it are complete opposites.

So now the team is planning this big party for me and I'm pretty sure it stopped being about me about ten minutes into the planning and just became an excuse for a party.

I just want time to hurry up so Dave can get off work and we can go out. I really, really want to stomp someone into the ground right now.

* * *

_**More Message: **__Usually I do teasers about now...but I hadn't because I didn't really think I had anything good to give you...but I think I came up with a couple._

"I'm not going to fight you, I have minions for that."

"Oh no. No. NO. Just...no!"

"And I must have looked disgusted because she asked, 'Sorry, was that too much information?'"

"I'm doomed."


	165. Chapter 165

_**Mako's Message: **Hi people! Miss me? Sorry for the delay on this. I've had a lot of...I'm just gonna say "distractions" and leave it at that._

_This chapter was ridiculously hard to write and I was literally stuck on the first two lines for a couple of weeks. Then, yesterday it all kinda clicked and I banged this out. Just not in time to get it up. _

_Not much else to say about this chapter but I do have something unrelated to talk about after the chapter._

* * *

Tonight was a good night. Could have gone better, but still a good night.

Haven't been in a real firefight for awhile though. Kinda threw me off for a minute.

We were just out on a patrol, nothing particularly important on our "to-do" list, when suddenly this couple come out of an alley trying to walk as fast as possible without actually running. The woman kept going but the guy kinda stopped when he saw us and pointed back down the alley and said, "We heard gunshots. A lot of gunshots," then hurried after his girlfriend.

So after a quick look and a nod to each other we ran down the alley. We found the place pretty easily, a closed off loading dock, thanks to gunfire and the bullet holes in the gate.

The door and the gate were locked and there weren't any windows so we couldn't peak in, which meant we had to just kick in the door and deal with whatever was on the other side on the fly.

I drew my guns and motioned for him to pull his out, but he shook his head.

I rolled my eyes and stood back and let him kick the door open.

The surprise of having the door burst open was our only advantage. I had no idea what was going on on the other side and didn't want to accidentally shoot a property owner exercising his 2nd Amendment rights so I was going to have to do quick survey of the room before I started shooting. Fortunately, who I should be shooting was made pretty clear when I saw that there was only one group shooting and they were shooting at Biker Knight.

Unfortunately, the key word there was "group" and they were shooting from around a corner. I manged to nail one guy before they turned their guns on us. There also wasn't any cover near the door so I had to run for the truck Biker Knight was taking cover behind.

Biker Knight was happy to see us. Still didn't talk, and I couldn't see his face, but her gave us an eager thumbs up. He was hurt though. Shot in the arm. He could still move it though, so the bone hadn't been hit, which was good, and it didn't seem to be bleeding too badly for a bullet wound, but that might have just been it not being able to soak through chain mail.

Anyway, now that we were inside and had some cover I was able to really take in the situation and get a look at the bodies. Most of which were Cunts. The guys shooting at us were grouped in a doorway leading to some stairs. Unfortunately, despite being bunched up, they weren't very good targets because of the angle, and they weren't standing _in_ the doorway either, but firing around it.

And the guy doing most of the shooting had one of those semi-automatic shotguns with the barrel magazine.

I really need to get one of those. Sure, it's not something I can carry around on a nightly basis, but it would be really nice to have the next time we do something like the assault on the Rainbow Factory. And I can make Dave carry it so it doesn't slow me down.

So I'm shooting back when I can, and trying to get Dave to help me out, but for some reason he can't seem to make himself pull the trigger. He can barely poke his head out. So then Biker Knight takes the gun from him, slips between the truck and the wall and fires from the far side, taking out one guy and making the rest back up the stairs. He comes back with the empty gun and hands it to Dave while the guys yell something in...I think it was japanese, and then they start shooting again.

Dave is just sort of sitting there staring at his gun, and I'm getting pissed because I'm on my second, and last, set of clips and Biker Knight's attack just made them take better cover so I'm essentially trying to shoot them through the wall. Then Dave just suddenly stands up and whips his baton at them, nailing the guy with the shotgun right in the face.

I stopped and looked at him and said, "Ya know, you're really getting good at that."

He grinned and was about to say something but we both had to duck further behind the truck as some bullets came a little too close to hitting us. There's more yelling in japanese, or whatever(could have been chinese), and then a guy comes down with an assault rifle and the truck's value as cover drops like a two dollar hooker with a twenty.

We both duck down and do our best to keep as much truck between us and them as possible, and Dave says, "An assault rifle? Seriously?!"

So I say, "Hey, just be glad it's not a minigun or we'd be dead right now."

And then Dave says, "Ya know what? Fuck that guy and everyone near him."

I snort at that and then he smacks his hand against my shoulder looks me right in the eye and repeats, "Fuck that guy and everyone near him," and I remember that that was the code we came up with for when he wants me to throw a grenade.

I didn't used to carry grenades when we're just going on patrol, but after the Rainbow Factory I decided that having one frag and one smoke on me at all times would be a good idea.

So I unclip it from my belt, pull the pin, yell, "Happy Birthday Cockbites!" and lob it at them. It hits the door frame instead of going through it, and I wince, thinking for a second that it'll bounce away from them, or even back towards us, but it goes through the door and lads at their feet.

A second later it blows and I hear the closest thing to a real life "Wilhelm Scream" I've ever heard, Dave has to fight to stop from laughing and Biker Knight gives me an approving nod and another thumbs up.

Then I say, "C'mon, we need to get up there and clear out any stragglers before we get pinned down again."

Dave nodded but Biker Knight shook his head and pointed to his arm.

I said, "Wait here then."

The first few stairs were kinda fucked up, but that only slowed us down by like, half a second. Anyway, we get up there and don't find much in the way of resistance. A couple guys popped up but I was able to shoot them before they could do anything, and one guy tried to ambush Dave from behind, but Dave mule kicked the guy in the groin and then smashed his face in with his knee. Wasn't really surprised that there weren't much left consider the pile in the loading dock.

While we were searching the place Dave suddenly laughed and said, "'Happy Birthday'?"

And I said, "Oh fuck off. I can't be brilliant all the time. And when was the last time you came up with a good quip?"

He started to say something and but I cut him off with, "'Shoryuken' doesn't count!" and he shut up for the rest of the search.

Anyway, we found a bunch of drugs which we left, and a bunch of cash which we took.

Dave carried the bag of money while I called in a shooting to the police. Took me a second to figure out where we were though, since the alley was unmarked, but I was still off the phone in under thirty seconds.

Biker Knight wasn't there when we got back down though, which sucked.

And since we now had a gym bag full of cash on us, we were going to head in for the night.

By the time we got out of the alley, though, this shitty ass car pulled up next to us and Biker Knight leaned out the window and waved us over. He moved into the passenger seat and motioned for one of us to drive. I went right for the back seat, which surprised Dave. "You don't want to drive? You always want to drive."

I said, "I have a reputation to uphold, you can't be seen driving this alleged car. I'm gonna hide in the back."

Dave just shook his head and got behind the wheel.

The back seat had a bunch of bloody towels in it and an open first aid kit, which made laying down across the seat a less pleasant idea, but it was good to see he'd gotten himself patched up. I decided to ask, "So what's with the shitty car?"

He took a note pad and pen out of the glove compartment and wrote, "Unregistered, no plates."

Which kinda made me think for a minute. Dave and I have to be real careful about getting to and from the Hit Mobile, as well as where we park it. It never occurred to me to have a car that you didn't care if it was towed or stolen. And it's also unremarkable, so unless someone followed him, no one who saw Biker Knight get in or whoever he is under the helmet get out would think anything of it.

Not that I have any plans to drive a Ford POS around, but it's certainly an interesting idea.

So then I asked, "Back to writing notes?"

And he wrote, "Can't talk with helmet on. Not taking it off."

And I said, "Understandable."

Then Dave said, "Ya know it's really weird only being able to hear one half of this conversation."

"Stop at the diner?" Biker Knight suggested.

I wasn't sure why he suggested it because he couldn't eat with his helmet on and said so. He shrugged and said, "Get take out. Talk while we wait."

So I said, "Hey Kick-Ass, you wanna stop and get something to eat?"

"Yeah, sure, it's getting kinda late."

Dave and Biker Knight ordered coffee when we got there, and I ordered tea. Biker Knight- I really need to come up with a nickname for him, writing that is getting tiring. But I can't call him BK. I keep thinking of Burger King...

Anyway, we all ordered are food to go but Dave and I had our coffee and tea while we waited.

I wasn't sure what to talk about, so I asked, "What happened back there anyway?"

Biker shook his head and started writing, "I was after the cunts. Got caught in the crossfire. Need to start carrying a gun."

I grinned, and said, "Yeah, Kick-Ass always carries one. He hates to use it though."

Dave was looking at the note and said, "So you were following them?"

Knight(Much better) nodded, "I didn't know who or what they were after. Just wanted to take them down."

"Sounds like you've got a grudge," which I meant as a joke because who _doesn't_ want to take down cunts on sight? But he suddenly went rigid, then started writing again.

"I know you two and the Motherfucker are archenemies. I want to be there when you take him down."

Dave and I shared a look before he said, "So, it _is_ something personal against him?"

Then he wrote one word; "D'Amico."

I couldn't stop grinning, "We should have had this chat MONTHS ago. I've spent most of life trying to put that douche in the dirt."

I heard something then, it was muffled as all hell but I think Knight laughed, and then he wrote, "We gonna share origin stories now?"

And Dave was like, "No we are not. I always feel like an idiot whenever we do that. Even Remembering Tommy and Night Bitch had better reasons for suiting up than I did."

I never got to meet them, since they died the day I got back into costume, but Dave told me about them and their origins. I wouldn't say his is worse though. It's certainly more altruistic. Even if when he's being all sad and emo about all this he claims he just did it because he was bored. I know better. As much as he enjoys getting to do real superhero stuff, I know he'd still be happy if none of this had happened and he was just rescuing cats and helping old ladies cross the street.

Still, as much as I would have been interested in hearing Knight's story, I wasn't interested in sharing mine.

Looking back on it, I''m kinda surprised how long it took me to tell Dave about my Mom and everything. But back then I still barely knew him and I was months away from fantasizing about making out with him. It's so weird realizing that it hasn't even been two years since we met. It feels like so much longer.

Anyway, Knight talked about how he'd been trying to hunt him down for almost the last two years, but the son of a bitch seems to have a knack for keeping his hidey holes a secret. Or at least his involvement in it a secret. I mean, Knight admitted to knowing about the Rainbow Factory for months before he found out The Motherfucker had actually set up shop at the top of it.

Unfortunately neither of us had anything new to share with the other. Just the same old stories; Chris has been laying low, cunts out being cunts, but rarely in large groups, occasional sightings of one of his supervillains. It sucks.

But sooner or later we're going to track him down and nail him to the wall and then cut him apart piece by piece. With an iron to cauterize the stumps so he doesn't bleed out on us.

When our food came we went back out and Dave drove us to within a few blocks of the safehouse. When we got out Knight got back in the drivers seat and Dave asked him, "You sure you're gonna be okay there?"

Knight nodded and scribbled out, "Will be fine. Flesh wound. If serious would have bled out long ago,"

Dave chuckled and said, "Been there."

So he drove off and we stashed our cash, changed, and headed home.

So yeah, tonight was pretty good. That fight keeps bugging me though. It was weird, and maybe I'm just over thinking this, but I don't think any of them said a single thing in english.

* * *

_**A Call For Aide: **__Do the words, "Play-by-Post" mean anything to you? It's a form of roleplaying that doesn't involve any dice, or numbers, or levels. It's just people writing characters and interacting with each other while working towards a goal. Essentialy, and RPG without the G._

_Well, an old friend of mine has started a new Roleplay but it's gotten very little attention. He's an excelent story teller, his plots and characters are amazing, but without players his story is going to go nowhere. So, I offered to promote it in my fic._

_Here's the link: __roleplay/dragons-of-terra-firma#introduction (okay, it's not really any sort of link, but it you copy that into google it'll be the first result)_

_Please give it a look. A good Roleplay is always worth the time spent on it._

_And yes, I'll be playing._


	166. Chapter 166

_**Mako's Message:** Hey, look, I updated within a week! Not quite back to where I want to be a hell of a lot better than I have been. And this chapter was kind of obligatory. It does, however, fit into one of my (not so)grand puzzles. Enjoy!_

* * *

Oh god tonight was awesome.

Ya know, I just realized that I hardly ever start talking about a night out of costume like that, but tonight really was.

How could it not be? We saw The Avengers! That movie was fucking sweet! I loved that so much. It was great getting to see Iron Man and Thor and Captain America cutting loose and kicking ass. Oh and Hulk was awesome. Best scene in the movie by FAR was when he was slamming Loki around like a rag doll. The only way that could have been better would be if some aliens came in and he'd smacked them around with Loki like a he was a manchuk.

And fucking Hawkeye and Black Widow were badass too. I could totally see myself down there fighting back to back with her. God that'd be so fucking awesome. Dave teased me about like mad too. I was so pumped up I was shadowboxing my way out of the theater and through the parking lot and didn't even care.

Angela really liked it too. She kept going on about how hot Thor was though. Not that I can really disagree with her, but I kinda liked Captain America too. He kinda reminded me of Dave. Little bulkier, and of course his hair was shorter, but still.

Marty and Dave were discussing which Black Widow scene was their favorite. Todd actually said his favorite scene was one with her and Hawkeye when she said, "It's just like Belgrave" or wherever she said, and he was like, "We remember Belgrave very differently."

It _was_ good line.

And I think what made it so great was that even the comedy felt in character. It wasn't like it was comedy for the sake of comedy. It was just funny because it was funny. Though, Iron Man making fun of Thor was kinda hilarious. Still in character though.

And then when Thor blasts Iron Man only to supercharge his suit and get blasted right back, that's a perfect example of something being funny but dead serious at the same time.

Another good one was when Capt America was told that Loki and Thor were practically Gods and he said, "There's only one God, and he doesn't dress like that." on the one hand, it's sounds so corny, but he said it so straight and it was so in character it didn't even sound like he was making a religious statement. More like a declaration of intent to whoop their asses up and down the mountain side.

It was just perfect. Everybody can stop making movies now because this will never be topped and it will never get old.

I'm actually GLAD Angela blabbed about my birthday now. This is what we were going to do for my birthday in the first place, but now that the team is planning this big party I was able to talk Dave, Marty, Todd, and Angela into going to see it as an early, private, Birthday Party, so I'd have had to wait another week to see this otherwise.

We went out to eat afterwards and we ended up almost forgetting about our food we had so much fun talking about everything. They even got into this big argument after Todd said it was a shame that the new Spider-Man movie hadn't come out yet so he couldn't be in it, about whether or not Spider-Man could have been any help. And I was like, "Bitches, if Black Widow was able to help, Spider-Man could have helped." I mean, he's at least as strong as Capt. America, more agile than Black Widow, and he could web up and disable all those flying sled things. How Marty thought he would have been redundant was beyond me.

Angela made the most hilarious argument though, "Well obviously he couldn't be in it because Black Widow was filing the spider spot."

I still have no idea if she was serious or not, but we were all too busy laughing to care.

When we were finally winding down, Todd asked, "So, we're all going to see Dark Shadows next weekend right?"

Marty shrugged and said, "Sure, why not?"

The Todd looked at Me and Dave, and we looked at each other and then Dave said, "I might have to work, so, we'll see."

I said, "Maybe? I dunno. My teachers have really been slamming us with homework that I need to catch up on, and Cameron was threatening us with extra practices."

Then Todd looked at Angela like she was his last hope, and she gave a long drawn out shrug and said, "Mmmeh."

And he said, "Oh come on! It's got Johnny Depp! I KNOW you love Johnny Depp!"

And she said, well yeah, but he's gonna be in pasty make-up with claws, and his hair is gonna be short everything that makes him hot is gonna be taken away."

So, I dunno. Might be fun to go out again. Just hard to work up enthusiasm for the movie. Especially after The Avengers. Nothing would compare.

I guess we'll just see what happens.


	167. Chapter 167

_**Mako's Message: **Hey, check this shit out! I updated two days in a row! And it wasn't prewritten or nothin'!_

_Don't know what got into me._

_Anyway, I'm actually really excited about this chapter because it's the second part of something I've been wanting to get to for a long time. First part was back in chapter...130? yeah. 130._

_Anyway, enjoy!_

* * *

Tonight Kick-Ass and Hit Girl got to have a little fun.

We got a noise complaint from a fed up old lady who was insisting her neighbors were drug dealers, with people coming and going at all hours, constantly banging on the doors and blasting loud music and the police weren't doing shit. That was actually in her own words. I bet if she was forty years younger she would have gone over there and kicked their asses herself.

We didn't have anything more important to do, and it sounded like a simple, easy, and fun mission so we took it.

The apartment was almost, but not quite, as run down as I was expecting. It looked like it had been a nice place at one point though, which is always interesting. Most of these places are just built to be cheap housing and are just square bricks. This place actually had some character. For example, it had a courtyard with a garden. It was a shitty garden, and the fountain was dry and full of crap, but it could have been nice if people gave a shit.

Which is true about a lot of things.

So we knocked on her door, well, Dave did, he always likes to let people know when their requests or tips are being followed up on(He says it encourages people to keep tipping it off), and then went to the next apartment. We could hear the music clearly from the hall and some shouting as well.

When he knocked on the door we heard someone shout, "If that's Raphael's guys again you tell them to tell him if he want's his money he needs to bring his cracker ass down here and get it himself!"

Then we heard someone walk up to the door and put a hand on it and then a panicked, "It ain't Raphael's guys!"

And then we heard more footsteps and the first voice again saying, "Then who the fuck is-" and that's when he opened the door, saw us, and shit himself.

I smiled at him and said in my best cyanide-sweet voice, "So, tell us about Raphael."

We pushed the guy back into the apartment and I twisted his wrist around and marched him into the living room. Two guys tried to grab us but I back kicked one of them in the nuts and Dave elbowed another in the face sending him to the floor. I looked around and said, "Anybody else wanna try?"

Nobody did, but we did find a guy hiding in the bathtub.

So, once we rounded them all up in the living room and their hands cuffed, which I wasn't happy about. I wanted to leave them uncuffed so they might try something but Dave just gave me this look and I knew I wasn't going to win that argument. It's just not fair! We were in an apartment full of drug dealers! If he's not going to let me kill them he could at least let me kick them around a little!

Anyway, we got them to tell us about Raphael, who was their supplier, and where he lived, or at least did business. He didn't know much more than that. They weren't exactly bright after all, opening the door for us and shit. At least Rasul had some clue as to how to operate. Then we tied their cuffs together and left them for the cops.

We actually had to stop the old lady from going in there and giving them a piece of her mind while waiting for the cops. She probably went in there after we left anyway though. But we couldn't just sit around and wait for them since we have technically broken a few laws here and there and officially they are supposed to arrest us so...yeah. Hanging around isn't exactly an option.

So, tomorrow we're going to start staking Raphael's place out. See who comes and goes, what else they might be up to besides drugs, and any other connections they might have before we take them out. It'll be just like old times.


	168. Chapter 168

_**Mako's Message: **Well well, three chapters in one week. Not bad, not bad. Cross your fingers that I keep this momentum up, yeah?_

_Not a whole lot here, length wise, but it's definitely a game changer._

_Enjoy!_

* * *

Tonight didn't go as planned AT ALL.

We found Raphael's apartment without any problems, even found a nice rooftop across the street with a great view into his apartment. One of us watched the apartment through binoculars and a parabolic mic, while the other kept an eye on our rooftop, and we'd switch every hour. Nothing interesting happened, couple guys came by, one of them probably bought a supply to sell since he left with a backpack he didn't come in with, and I think one of them bought a hooker. She didn't leave though or service any of the other guys so she might have been the guy's girlfriend.

Anyway, we didn't get any names(no one even said "Raphael") or see any drugs so we had no reason to believe we were watching anything more than a bunch douchbags being douchy in their douche apartment.

So, we're bored, Dave is working out, it's past midnight and I'm realizing we forgot to bring any snacks and I'm hungry. I take the headphones off and say, "Hey Dave, could you go get us something to eat?"

He says, "Sure" and heads down the fire escape. I leave the headphones off so I can hear if anyone comes onto the roof and because at this point I'm doubting I'll ever hear anything interesting out of the assholes currently sitting around the living room watching some dumbass cartoon and I can just put them back on if someone new shows up.

Dave takes about ten minutes to hit a convenience store and get back with some vitamin water and granola bars. He comes up behind me and says, "Here, sorry they only had cranberry."

I put the binoculars down, take the bar and the bottle, say "Thanks," open the bar, take a bite, chew swallow, open the bottle, take a quick swig, wipe my mouth and put it down without putting the cap on, then pick up the binoculars and look back into the apartment.

And everyone is dead!

I yelled, "What the fuck!?" and dropped the binoculars as a guy stepped out from between two of the windows while sheathing a katana. He's dressed in black from head to toe, but his mask has white splotches where the eyes are and doesn't cover the bottom half of his face.

He looks over at us and...it was like a smirk, but bigger. Like he was laughing at us. I just know that if we'd been closer we'd have been able to see teeth.

So we run for the fire escape and pretty much skip the steps, just jumping from floor to floor. When we hit ground we rush to the other building, Dave boosts me up to the fire escape and then runs for the front door. I keep looking up the whole time and I don't see him come out, and then when I reach the apartment the window is shut. I throw it open, step inside, and there is blood fucking _everywhere_. He literal used it to paint graffiti on the walls.

There were fangy, grinning mouths, the words, "Succumb", "Fear Me", "Futile" and "Death", and then splashes that were probably just from when he killed everyone in the apartment.

I didn't see him though, and I was just starting to check the other rooms when Dave burst in and said, "You see him?"

I shook my head and started to look into another room, when Dave yelled, "The window!"

And he ran over and poked his head out and said, "He's on the roof!"

So we bolted up the fire escape just in time to see him making a jump to the next building. We chased after him across three more rooftops until he hit the end of the block. I thought for sure we had him cornered since there was street on two sides and an alley with a taller apartment on the third. I should have known better though, nobody who is cornered just stands there that calmly.

I tried to talk to him, since he could have been hero. He did just clear out an apartment full of drug dealers after all. And if he was he could be a huge ally in taking down The Motherfucker. But we're kinda well known so him running from us meant he probably wasn't.

Before I could get more than two words out though, he broke into a run towards the edge of the building, and if I hadn't been thinking "What the fuck is he doing?"(we were still three stories up after all) I could have shot him, but then he leaps off the fucking roof and lands on a passing 18-wheeler.

We get to the edge just in time to see him turn and bow at us before turning and walking towards the cab, and by that point pursuit was impossible.

I was so angry I couldn't even swear. I felt like I just got completely out classed.

I think I know how Dave felt the night he met me.


	169. Chapter 169

_**Mako's Message: **Four chapters in a week? If it's hot in here it's cause I'm on fire._

_No, seriously though, what is this? I haven't been able to write this easily since Jessi's Goodbye. I even updated _The Right One_ over the weekend(for a total of FIVE chapters this week). Hopefully I can carry this momentum into other stories, like _ Replay _and_ Broken Bird_(No I haven't forgotten about you_, _poor babies. -pets stories-)_.

_I may have also gone a bit crazy. (No you haven't) But if it makes me write like this I don't wanna be sane._

_Oh, and I forgot something with the last update as I had to rush and upload it on a display computer at Office Depot(#Dedication!). The soundtrack for last chapter is _Omen(Reprise) - The Prodigy_. For those of you not paying attention, _Omen - The Prodigy_, was the song playing during the first big fight scene in Kick-Ass. The one that made Dave famous. (A weak, sickly, sounding version of it also played in the fight where he got stabbed. I love shit like that.)_

_Anyway, enjoy the latest chapter from Makokam, the author whose brain wont stop._

* * *

I needed tonight. I really did. I've been in such a shitty mood since the other night. I still can't believe that happened. I mean, that had to be at least a fifteen foot drop onto a moving truck and he acted like it was nothing! And he bowed at us! Yeah, AT us, not TOO us. That bastard was mocking me, I just know it.

And now I'm ruining my own good mood.

This morning Todd texted me to see if I was going to see if I was going to go with him to see Dark Shadows, and I just wanted to distract myself so badly that I said yes without even checking to see if anyone else was going. Training sure as fuck wasn't doing the job. All it did was make me think of how much harder I had to push myself.

I'll have to ask Uncle John if we can use his van to practice jumping onto moving vehicles.

Anyway, Cheerleading and school work wasn't distracting me and training was only making my mood worse, so I hoped that seeing a movie would help. And it did. I enjoyed it. It wasn't great, but it was good, and I kinda wanna recreate that scene between Barnabas and Angelique with Dave. That looked like fun.

Dave and Marty did end up coming too. Angela passed.

On the way out though, Marty started fucking with Todd, "So, you gonna save yourself for Chloe Moretz now too?"

And Todd was like, "Dude, what are you talking about?"

And Marty said, "Don't play innocent, I saw your jaw hanging off your face when she started dancing."

And Todd started turning red and said,"It was not!"

And Marty was like, "Dude, you are such a terrible liar. You only wanted to see this for her."

And Todd said, "I'm a fan of the show! My Dad has the entire original series on tape. Come to my house, we'll spend the whole night watching the show and I will quote lines to you before they're spoken."

"Whatever"

Then I turned and said, "S what about you Dave? Are you loving the Moretz too?" and started trying to imitate that dance she was doing. I honestly don't know how good a job I did, and I wasn't wearing a dress that barely came past my hips, but if there's one thing I've learned from cheerleading it's that I'm really good at picking up a routine after seeing it and I threw in some extra swaying for good measure.

And Dave looked away and said, "I...am not going to answer that question."

And I tried to restrain myself to just a grin because inside I was leaping into the air and cheering, cause at bare minimum that wasn't a denial and Angela, Jessi, and Riley all thought I looked like her, so even if she's a few years older than me if Dave thinks she's hot then I have a chance!

Sure, it's not much, but god damnit it's a start.

Marty, meanwhile, was biting his knuckle and shaking with silent laughter while Todd was still trying to stop blushing. Guess I didn't help that.

So while Dave was taking the lead back to the car I hung back with Marty and whispered, "Does he still have a crush on me?"

And Marty whispered back, "You mean on Hit Girl?"

And I just realized he was teasing me, but then I just said, "Yeah, her."

So he shrugged and said, "He has a poster of her on his wall, but it's not an actual photo of you. I don't think anyone's gotten a real photo of you that could be made into a poster," I just nodded, cause I knew people were trying cash in on us since we can't claim copyright or anything. Except the Guardian. He got a book deal. The douche. "And he's a regular poster on one of the Hit Girl fan sites, but he doesn't write any real person fanfics about her or draw pictures or anything. I wouldn't worry about it. I think she's just his hero."

And that got me thinking about Jessi, cause she called me her hero too.

Then Marty asked, "So have you read any of those stories? Some are actually pretty good."

And I was like, "You read them?"

And he shrugged and said, "They amuse me. Ya know, cause I have a rather unique perspective."

I just shook my head and said, "I looked at them occasionally, but then I saw one too many Hit-Girl and Red Mist stories and gave up on them."

Marty nodded, "Don't blame you. They've kind of dried up over the last year as more and more people accept that Red Mist is now The Motherfucker. A lot of people refused to believe it for awhile, thinking he'd gotten killed off camera that night." He paused then and said, "There is one Hit Girl The Motherfucker romance fic though."

And I was like, "Are you fucking kidding me?"

He shook his head and said, "I shit you not. It's actually pretty good. It's called, 'Love Thy Enemy'. In the story, you two are dating out of costume, but neither of you know what the other gets up to at night. It's really interesting. Apparently people keep pestering the author about the ending because every few chapters she tells people to keep their shirts on that they should stop asking her to hurry up and finish it because when she does we're going to wish she hadn't."

I had to admit, if it wasn't a story about me and Chris I might actually be interested in it. I asked, "Is it really that popular?"

And Marty shrugged, "It's the second most popular one on that site. The most popular is called, 'Being Hit Girl'. In that one, after that night, she goes to live with Kick-Ass who's a college student living on his own. And it's almost entirely about who she is under the mask. You almost never see her in costume. One of the big arcs that had everybody on the edge of their sears was when one of his neighbors called child services on him, thinking she was a runaway. Or worse."

"How old is she in that one?"

"It's actually the most accurate depiction her. She was twelve when she moved in and fourteen now. Her personality is pretty close too, except she doesn't have friends out of costume since he hasn't figured out how to get her into school. Hopefully he'll get that sorted before the next school year starts."

"Why is he trying to get her into school?"

"Because it's less about school and more about making her presence legit. He had to hide her from his friends and neighbors, which was why the one got suspicious and reported him. But because of that they managed to get enough documentation, real and fake, on her to not have her taken away and him arrested, but if she's not in school when it starts in the fall, then they're both going to be in trouble."

And I probably shouldn't have, but I couldn't resist, "So, IS there anything going on between them?"

And Marty just raised his eyebrow and smirked at me and said, "Read it and find out."

Bastard.

I'm actually considering it. But on the one hand, it's obviously not about me and Dave so I don't know if I want to read this story that's about me but isn't about me. On the other hand, the fact that it's not about me means that it would be like reading any other story about a fictional character, and if it's as good as Marty made it sound then why no

Marcus just stuck his head in to tell me about a murder case that came by him today. Apparently, someone found a dead body in Central Park, and the body had it's heart cut out. And they'd found one like this a few months ago, so he made a few calls and he found they'd found a body like this in Jersey, Pennsylvania, upstate, and in Connecticut. Which means it's a serial killer that seems to be centered around New York. He thought I'd be interested since it sounded like, "Your kind of thing"

I've got ass loads of homework since finals are coming up, the cheerleading final is in a couple weeks so Cameron is working us like a two dollar whore, this new asshole shows up, The Motherfucker is still out there causing trouble along with all the other assholes, and now this.

The world just needs to go fuck off for awhile. Seriously.


	170. Chapter 170

_**Mako's Message:**__In kinda of a rush, sorry if there are some typos._

* * *

O mty ghopdrt wsa crzy

so stipid

but fun

SECRET BUTT FUN!

Shit lm dink

ok su topfay ws my iorthday an thos stophd cheerlds whor the b=st fiensd evr thrugh ma prrty a aNgls, cuz hr parnts wodnlt ne hme. And l thaut itd be stpid bt hd t go cius they frinds and dd fpr me.

But it ws werd an I didnt no wut t do but ttheu mad e play but I ddn't thik tws fun and the srtd tsin me bot dave, evn dd a chait

wht sh want

dave pns

whe he wnt it

iner pssy

een camrn th trator

so then we but I didn't think we shold but aneela insitsnbut I didnt have any

wekk I fin't at first then she said we shuld have a drink to honor jessi cause she wasn't here and we miss er so I hd one and I I has anthr but it wadnt't alt so Ive no idea how Iednipalling down the stars

was okay though only hurt may pride

wo the pizza gur came

ha I but he did som. Cause the girls teased hom so bad. Tried to get him to come in. but hr eas budy so he left. Wht kind ppart is it wihtou a guy though

no bithfay kisses for mindt

goid I wantg to fuck dabe so bad. Ehy esdny hr hrt yo gibr mr lobin got my birthday

itd mybirthfay. He colld give me bithday wish

stpod dave. Judy thiknming about him hets me horny

he so hot I want jhis arms wrapped atond me and swuessingme and his lips on me kissing and tsasing and I want to wrap my finfs in his hair and old him to me rn my hands over thos abs and kis his lips and steok his dick if evb go doen on him if he wantd'

its gros but id do it for dave. Mayb even let him cm in me mouth

at least it be inside me

gdos that feel so good stupid hairbrush isn't any good want dave

WHYD HE AHVE TO BE SO MUCH OLDSER

Soi, party was fun Stipd, but fund

we plyd truth or dre but they said I lied about dave so had to do consewuence

mad me sy I was a perett orinces and I lvd te part and playing with dolls

so lm can't Even com ujp with hood condreunce

whne it was my turn made the bith deepthroit a banana

she couldnt doit so jacki showd he and of COURS she could to id perfectly, then a;; the ptjer girlss started trying it and the want me to try it too but I couldnt not that o coldnt o meacaise o coiuld totally take that bana is I wanted to, just could do that while girls watched, so embfarssin

they dids it on purpose trying to embars ,me think is funny

Angla keepsn snoting shes sopased outit'sgunny.

Should take picture for blackmail

gd I dont even remember who brouth out the fist alhohol I just rmeber thinin this was gon go soith real fucking wuick

instd it just got ffun

like hwen we where wathcin this movei and making fun og it but some ot he tirls coulndt makkei a hoke to save their life but is wwas okay ccause it was fuinny eatching them try we wer lagihinh at them as much as the joks

when the finallty all left it was dark and it was glad thati was spenging the night cause I couldnthave walked gome which is stupoid cause I only had like two drinks and now aAngela is asleep and her parents and brther are gone so its just me

I wish Dave was here Id do so much for him he'd never want to ho bsvk to Riley id let him have me whenever he wanted it'd be geat all sex all the time

and askicking can't forget that

sex and assking.

Bt he jus sesmer as a littlre girl andmever thniks of me that way wont even look whne I try to show off for him stupid dave ig only hecol sea nhow muich I want him hes understands

now ths an idea.

* * *

_**Mako's**_**Real _Message: _**_Okay, I lied, this was one, gigantic, carefully crafted typo. Sorta. Most of this was typed with my eyes closed and dragging my fingers across the keys. I spent a lot of time thinking about how I was going to do this. Typing without looking turned out to be depressingly effective. Though, long strips of this are more legible than I wanted because I forgot to drag my fingers, so maybe my typing isn't THAT bad after all. But I left them because it helps redirect you if you got lost. And you should get lost. And in one case I actually cleaned it up a little. So, "carefully crafted"? Not so much. "Intentional"? Totally._

_Just be glad I didn't take a friends advice to use a "|33t $p3 k" translator._

_Anyway, I had a lot of fun with this and I hope you enjoy and get a laugh out of it.  
_

_And if you don't...I have no regrets._


	171. Chapter 171

_**Mako's Message: **This is, once again, a chapter I'd been looking forward to for awhile. And, once again everything I'd wanted to say in this space has fled my brain, so..._

_Enjoy!_

_Oh, right. There's a cleaned up version of the previous chapter in the forums. If you were able to read it at all though, please don't read the clean on._

* * *

Oh my god. How drunk _was_ I?

I can't even read what I wrote last night. I even thought I had it upside down at first. But it's just a bunch of illegible scribbles.

And when I woke up I had a text from Dave asking, "Why is there a video of you stripping in my inbox?"

I can't believe I did that. I mean, one, what if I'd fucked up his e-mail address or something? I could have sent that to a complete stranger and it could've ended up all over the internet.

It was bad enough when it was just a crotch shot all over school.

Ugh. It could have ended up in the hands of people like that fat fuck who tricked Jessi. That's so gross.

I told Dave, "Could you please delete that."

And he said, "Already done."

He's too good to me sometimes. He's such a gentleman too. Didn't tease me about it at all

I do wonder how much of it he watched though. I mean, as glad as I am that it was deleted cause I don't want something like that just sitting on someone's computer, even if it's Dave's. But I can't help thinking about what he was thinking when he saw it. Did he scream in disgust and close it? Or did he like what he saw enough to watch the whole thing? I don't think it was that first one though. I hope it wasn't at least.

I mean, I know I'm nothing spectacular but I'd like to think I'd at least be enjoyable to look at.

But Dave...he probably closed it as soon my clothes started coming off.

Ugh. This whole thing is such a disaster.

At least we didn't trash the place.

Sure, it's a mess, but nothing's broken and when the girls left at least one of them must have had the sense to take the empty bottles with her so there shouldn't be anything that'll REALLY get us in trouble.

Assuming we're not still hung over when her parents and brother get back. I feel like there's a firing range in my head.

Angela hasn't moved since she woke up and that was just to bury herself in her blankets.

Never mind. She just ran for the bathroom. Don't hear any retching so I guess she just had to pee.

I texted Riley and Alice as soon as I realized why my head hurt so much. The only thing they both agreed on was that I needed to drink water. So that's what I've been doing and I think it's starting to work. Their firing a lower caliber at least.

And I don't know if I'm nauseous or just really hungry. I feel like I want to eat but I also feel like if I do I'll throw up.

At least we have a few more hours before Angela's parents and brother get back. I think. If they get home when they said they will.

I wonder if we can ride this out at Dave's or something. Knock on his door, "Hi, we're hungover. Hide us from our parents?"

I have no idea what Mr. L would say if he saw us though. Might be worth the risk though.

Hmm... Dave taking care of me. Might be nice. Maybe I will go. Don't know about Angela though. She's back under her blankets.

I can't really leave her to the wolves like that though.

Or maybe I can. It's her fault I'm in this condition.

I could probably get her ass moving if I threatened to distribute the picture I took of her "presenting" last night. Nothing high-school boys like more than a drunk party girl with her ass in the air.

"Dave, help me, I'm drunk" would be a great excuse to grope him though, "Help me up the stairs I can't feel my feet."

I'm seriously debating if that would be worth the blow to my pride.

Maybe I'll eat something plain, like an english muffin. That might help.

Ugh. I think Angela might actually have the right idea. I'm gonna see if I can get another hour or two of sleep.


	172. Chapter 172

_**Mako's Message: **Well...that happened._

_Kick-Ass 2_

_._

_._

_._

_I liked it! -pounds table- ANOTHER!_

_No seriously. Kick-Ass 3 needs to happen._

_I'll be posting a review in the forums, in case some of you want to know what I really think of it(and I know at least some of you do), in the next 24 hours. _

_Anyway, this chapter..._

_First, if you're new to this story because of Kick-Ass 2, thank you for liking it enough to get this far. I realize it's gone so far off the rails it's a car...no, a boat, but you stuck with me through my own ever expanding universe and I thank you for reading and hope you continue to enjoy this story._

_Second, this chapter gave me want to rip my hair out, but I think you'll all be pleased with the results  
_

_Third... ya know what? I've decided I don't have a third. Enjoy the fic!_

* * *

Train, school, practice, homework, patrol, sleep.

Train, school, practice, homework, patrol, sleep.

Train, school, practice, homework, patrol, sleep.

That's all my life has been these last few days.

Train, school, practice, homework, patrol, sleep.

It's fucking nuts. With finals and the cheerleading competition coming up, I've barely been getting enough sleep. I'm almost completely wiped out. It's not as bad as when I first put the costume back on, but it's damn close. At least I'm not falling asleep in class this time. I almost hate to admit it, but Dave knew what he was talking about when he insisted we take days off. They're the only thing that's been getting me through the past few days.

But before I get into all that I have to finish telling about my Birthday weekend, because that was just too much epic fail to leave it hanging like that. I didn't even realize how messed up I was until I went back to look at it a couple days later. For example, once my head was clear I discovered that I _could_ read the entry from my Birthday.

Well, parts of it at least.

Anyway,

I did end up going back to sleep, but I was woken up by a text from Dave saying, "What's going on? Are you okay?"

So I called him back and said, "Dave? We're hung over. Can you come get us?" And there was a long pause and then he said he'd be over soon.

So I went to drag Angela out of bed, but she refused to get up. Even when I ripped the covers off her she just grabbed them back and wrapped herself up tighter. I had to show her the picture I took of her passed out drunk, with her ass up in the air like an invitation, and threaten to send it to every boy in school to get her to move. But all she did was take her blanket and curl up in a chair.

Her bed fucking reeked too. It was like she was sweating alcohol. So I took them and tossed them in the laundry and then made Angela go wait downstairs for Dave while I put new sheets on her bed.

When I heard Dave pull up I went and grabbed a pair of Angela's sunglasses since just looking outside was making my eyes hurt. Before Dave had even gotten to the door Angela ran out to the car still wrapped in her blanket. Dave just watched as she pulled the door open and then flopped into the back seat. Then he came up to where I was leaning on the door frame and said, "How're you doing?"

I said, "Been better."

Then he said, "Yeah, well, let's get out of here before the neighbors notice."

I held out my arms and said, "Carry me."

And he just looked at me and said, "Seriously?"

He wouldn't carry me, but he did help me out to the car because even with the sunglasses I was two busy burying my face in his chest to watch where I was going.

When we got to his house he helped me in first, and took me into the living room where he let me collapse on the couch before going back to get Angela.

While I was busy curling up into a ball on the couch and trying to block out the pain because the ride over just made everything start hurting again, I heard footsteps coming up to me and then his Dad said, "Mindy?"

And I just kinda groaned out, "Hi, Mr. L."

And he said, "Are you okay?"

I started to say I was fine, but for some reason I couldn't, so I just said, "No."

And that's when Dave came back in with Angela. His Dad called out to him, but he said, "In a minute," and helped Angela upstairs, where he took the blanket from her, made her get in the shower and told her to borrow some of the clothes I have here for our all-too-infrequent sleepovers and rest in his bed.

When he came back down, his Dad took him into the kitchen and they started talking. I couldn't make out what they were saying, but from the tone of their voices Mr. L wasn't happy. A while later, sometime after I heard the water shut off upstairs, Dave came back in with a bottle of Gatorade for me. He sat down next to me and said, "So. How is Little Miss Hungover?.

I tried to punch him in the arm, but my fist just kinda...slid off him. No force behind it at all. It was pathetic, really. And I said, "Shut up. Get me food. I'm starving."

Dave didn't laugh at me, but I could tell he wanted to, and told me his Dad was making us food. Then he gave me the bottle of Gatorade and after I drank half of it he let me curl up against him and rest.

I don't remember if I fell asleep, but by the time Mr. L said the food was ready I was starting to feel human again. I didn't need Dave's help getting to the table, but I let him help me anyway. Once Dave got me to the table, he went to get Angela.

Mr. L made cheese omelets and home fries, and when he put a plate of it front of me with a glass of cranberry juice he asked, "So, have you learned your lesson?"

And I said, "Yes sir."

And he said, "Good, eat up. It'll help."

Dave came down with Angela a few moments later and she was a complete wreck. Her eyes were bloodshot, her skin was pale, her hair was matted and in her face, and Dave had to use both hands to help her zombie shuffle her ass into the kitchen. It made me feel way better about my own condition.

Once Dave got her into a seat I smiled at her and said, "Did you have fun this weekend?"

She glared at me through her hair and said, "At least I _earned_ my hangover. You only had like, three drinks."

I wasn't going to correct her, but then I saw Mr. L looking at us and so I said, "It was only two, I swear," and Angela sat bolt upright like a meerkat.

She turned around to see Mr. L standing there looking at her and she gave a strained smile and said, "Hi Mr. Lizewski. How're you?"

He snorted, said, "Just eat your food and don't do it again," and left the room.

After we finished eating Angela seemed tons better. But she was still only about where I was when I woke up that morning.

When Angela's parents called she told them we'd been watching movies all afternoon, which we had been since we ate "breakfast". I got to curl up with Dave the whole time too, which was nice. But Angela kept smirking at me whenever I saw her looking at us.

So Dave took Angela home because his Dad had left for work, and Angela seemed to have pulled herself together enough for her parents not to notice anything because she didn't get grounded or anything.

I fell asleep before he got back though, which sucked, because I woke up a few hours later after he'd gone to sleep so it was just me wandering around his house in the middle of the night. And of course I did end up falling asleep again around dawn, which just meant I had Dave shaking me awake to tell me we needed to get to school an hour later.

And my journey down the path of ordeals officially started.

Since finals are coming up, the teachers are going nuts. They're grilling us on everything we've learned this year. Or supposed to have learned in the case of most of my classmates. But that's fine. I don't mind that. It's school. That's what we're there for and it's not like I'm sweating bullets hoping I don't get called on. What's pissing me off is that they keep piling homework on us. My workload has literally tripled. It's so bad I've actually had to turn in some assignments late, and if it wasn't for our off days some of them wouldn't have gotten done at all. It's insane.

Angela's been acting weird too. She keeps zoning out and staring off into space. Then, yesterday, she suddenly slammed her first down on the table and said, "Ya know what? I'm gonna do it!" and then walked off to talk to come boy before I could ask her what the hell that was about. One thing or another kept distracting me so I wasn't able to ask her about that until we were warming up for cheerleading, but all she'd tell me was "I have a date tomorrow night."

Cameron has been working us into the ground too. The national championship is coming up soon, so she's doubled the length of our practices and is holding them every fucking day. The girl has lost her mind. If she keeps working the girls like this, someone is gonna pass out, or miss a catch, or have their legs give out and they're gonna get fucked up real bad.

And the really crazy thing is that patrol hasn't been any better! Every single night we're running into trouble. We've had muggings, beatings, stabbings, shootings, robberies, a rape, and a fire that I'm pretty sure was arson but there hasn't been an official report on the fire yet. And if the report says it wasn't I'll still think it was arson. And someone stuffed a bunch of bodies in a dumpster. They weren't even trying to hide them either. They just left them in there with all their legs sticking straight up like some kind of macabre art project.

But probably the weirdest thing happened last night.

We're walking down the street and this guy comes running towards and then hides behind Dave. Literally cowering behind him. And the next second these four other guys come running up and stop, and they're looking at the guy peeking out around Dave, and they're looking at us, and for a second I think the guy leading the group is gonna ask us to hand him over.

And I'm standing there going, "This guy is a drug dealer or something," and thinking that any other night we'd be the one's beating his ass.

But we didn't know what the hell was going on, so we had to do the Hero thing and protect the guy who came to us for protection.

And then after a couple moments the group walks away shooting the ocasional glare at us and the guy. Then, once they're out of sight, the guy starts falling all over himself thanking us and literally bowing to us (probably didn't want us to see his face) while backing away until he's about a dozen feet from us and then he turns and hauls ass down the street. And while we're standing there watching him go Dave says, "He was a drug dealer, or gang banger or something, wasn't he."

And I said, "Probably."

So yeah. I can't wait for finals and this championship, just so things can calm the fuck down just a little bit.

I got a text from Angela. "Sex is good." I guess her date went well.

* * *

_**On Second Thought: **__Third, _Bust-Out Brigade_ by _The Go! Team_ is the best theme song/anthem/ line-walk music ever. It's the new Guile's Theme and must be applied to every line walk in cinema to make it 200% cooler. I want to carry around a giant ass ghetto blaster with me so I bust this shit out whenever I walk down the street._


	173. Chapter 173

_**Mako's Message: **Oh. My. God. Reviews. So...so many reviews _ And Favorites and Follows. It was literally overwhelming. I don't know how I got through it all. Thank you, new fans and old, for loving this story so much. _

_And now, I need to give you all a warning about this chapter. It is the most sexually explicit chapter of this fic to date(and probably ever). It also does not involve Mindy. Well, not first hand. There's also something in here I think a lot of you have been wondering about...or maybe not._

_Again, thank you all, I wouldn't be able to do this without you, and enjoy the chapter._

* * *

Well, two things happened today that I did not expect.

The first is that I learned more about Angela's sex life than I ever wanted to know.

She was bouncing all through school and when the final bell rang she all but dragged me to her house and up to her room.

As soon as the door shut she started freaking out and wouldn't stop talking, "Oh my god it was awesome! So, like, we went out to see this movie, and it was okay, but I wasn't interested in it, so by halfway through I stopped watching it completely and spent the rest of the movie making out and then when we went to dinner, and it was boring because we didn't really have anything to talk about but I could tell he totally wanted to do me.

"So we came back here, cause my parents were going to be at the ballet until, like, really late, so we'd have the place to ourselves until at least midnight. As soon as I got him inside I couldn't keep my hands off him and I was pulling his clothes off before we even got to the steps.

"And when we got in here I pushed him onto the bed and climbed onto his lap and I was kissing him all over and he was feeling me up and fuck that felt good and then he got my bra off and I was like, 'why didn't I think to do that?'. So he started kissing my chest and boobs and it was just all kinds of awesome. Then I got my hands into his pants and started stroking him then I slid off his lap and pulled his pants off and his dick was like, this big," and she held up her hand with only her first two fingers held up, "And then I sucked him a bit, which was kinda weird, but the noises he made when I did it just made me even wetter so whatever. Then I grabbed a condom from my nightstand and put it on him, and then he picked up and threw me down on the bed and pulled my panties off, and for a second I thought he was going to eat me, but he didn't, which was cool cause I just wasn't comfortable with the idea of guy putting his face down there, ya know?

"Then next second he's got his dick all up in me and I was like 'Whoa my god!'" and here she jumped onto the bed and lay down on her back with her legs up in the air, "And he started pumping into me and I was like, 'uh uh uh uh uh uh uh!'" with accompanying pelvic thrusts, "and then when he started to get tired I flipped him on to his back and I rode the SHIT out of him. And then when I came I kinda fell back off of him and then he got up on his knees, pulled the condom off and jerked off on me, which was kinda hot while I was watching him do it, but then afterward it was like, 'ew, this feels gross' and then I let him catch his breath before telling him he needed to leave before my parents got home and he gathered up his stuff and left and then I texted you and got a shower."

And I guess she thought I looked disgusted because then she said, "Oh, sorry, was that too much information? It's easy to forget how young you are sometimes and I just had to tell someone about it and who else am I going to tell?"

Really though, whatever my face was doing it was because I was imagining me and Dave doing that. Well, most of it. Putting a dick in your mouth is just gross.

I shook my head and said, "No, it's okay, it didn't bother me. Just, don't get more detailed than that."

She laughed and said, "Deal."

Then I asked, "So when did you buy the condoms?"

And she said, "Oh, I didn't buy them. My parents gave them to me. They knew that, short of putting a chastity belt on me, they couldn't really keep me from having sex, so they'd rather I be safe than sorry. And thank god they did. I don't know if I could have bought them myself. How embarrassing would that have been?" Then she gave me this, half devious, half shy smile and said, "I'm not looking forward to when I have to tell them I need more."

And we both had a good laugh over that, then I said, "So I guess you'll be seeing more of this guy then?"

And then Angela surprised me again, "Oh hell no. I just asked him out cause I wanted to get laid. It's one thing to put out on the first date, it's another if it's a one time fling. I'm not easy ya know."

I had to think about that for a minute before I said, "I guess," but I'm still not sure I agree with her logic, but if she's happy with it I guess that's all that matters.

The second thing was an even bigger surprise.

I got a Birthday card from Jessi.

The card itself wasn't anything special, just a picture of a cake on the front and "Happy Birthday" written on the inside. What was special about it was this letter inside it.

Dear Mindy,

I hope this isn't too late. I couldn't remember when your birthday was exactly, I only just remembered it was this month. I hope you had a lot of fun and you enjoy being a teenager. Did you realize that now you're the age I was when we met? It seems so long ago.

I also wanted to thank you again, for everything you've done for me. Not just for taking care of Jacob, or giving me the knife. And it really was that knife that made all the difference that night. It reminded me of you and gave me the strength to put an end to it. But just you being there for me through everything. Angela is my oldest friend, and she was popular one. All the other "friends" I had were through her, and they stopped talking to me when they decided they weren't going to hang around with Angela if she was hanging around with you. But we weren't just two friends of Angela's hanging out with her at the same time. You were my friend too.

You make a lot more sense to me now that I know who you are. Why you weren't in to the things the other girls were. Why you seemed so awkward an unsure of what you were doing when we met, but still had such confidence in your self. I always envied you for that. Why you would barely tell us anything about your childhood.

But you let me in. You were there for me when no one else but Angela was. Even though it made you uncomfortable.

And that's why I wanted to apologize for not contacting you until now. I should have let you know I was okay. Except, I really wasn't. I'm still not okay. I've been seeing three different therapists on an almost daily basis. They've been trying me on different medications for depression, anxiety, and psychosis. And it's still hard adjusting to my new home. I like it here, but it still weird. I'm not supposed to leave the property so I can't even explore my neighborhood and it's left me with not much else to do but sit here and think about things and they're not always good things.

I'm just not ready to talk to you again. Just writing this letter is hard. But I promise you I'll tell you when I'm ready to talk.

Love, Jessica

P.S. Sorry for taking advantage of that night at the hospital, but thanks for letting me kiss you anyway.


	174. Chapter 174

_**Mako's Message: ** I think people will like this chapter. I didn't quite get to do everything I wanted here, but that's okay because trying to shoehorn in certain lines just felt forced and threw things off. And I kinda like how it ends, with no parting words._

**6**

* * *

I don't think I've ever so felt so frustrated and wound-up yet happy before in my life. Actually, I don't know if I've ever felt frustrated, wound-up and happy at the same time before.

When we were out tonight we found this girl in this blue and silver costume that made her look like a power ranger trying to fight these two guys. She was getting her ass handed to her pretty thoroughly, but she was managing to not get grounded and stomped on and she kept trying to fight and...okay fine, it was kind of like a pathetic version of Dave's first fight. The one that made him famous, not the one that got him stabbed. It was closer to that one though.

So we stepped in and the two guys ran off.

And then, as she's picking herself out of a pile of garbage bags she says, "I could have handled them. I didn't need your help," and we both froze. I know I couldn't believe what I was hearing. I can't imagine what was going through Dave's head.

He finally managed to choke out, "Katie?!"

And she says, "Yeah, it's me," and she pulls off the helmet she was wearing with the stupid reflective visor and giant heart symbol on the front and shakes her hair out.

I tried not to laugh for about five seconds before I realized I had no reason to. Dave asked her, "What the hell are you doing out here?!"

And she said, "Being a hero. Like you. I stopped those two from mugging a girl."

And I laughed and said, "You are NOTHING like us."

And Katie got all huffy and said, "I CAN do this!"

And Dave had both hands covering his face and he started to say, "Katie-"

But I cut him off with, "Obviously you can't. We just watched you get your ass handed to you."

And she said, "I would have been fine! I just needed to get my footing back."

I laughed at her again and said, "Yeah, whatever, keep telling yourself that."

She got all indignant and said, "I'll prove it then! Come hit me."

Dave's head jerked up and he put his hands up and said, "Katie!"

But I couldn't keep the grin off my face and said, "Alright."

And Katie fell back into a pretty basic stance with her fists up and I just walked up and went for a spin kick to her head. And she blocked it. I actually froze when she blocked it. I shouldn't have, spin kicks and the like pack a lot of power but they're also never lead with something like that, they're finishers. To be used only when you have your opponent off balance and it's time to put them down. Anyone with any martial arts training could get out of the way of one. Dave ducked one on his first day of training.

But for some reason, seeing my foot two inches from her head, and her arm up, stopping it...I cannot describe the immediate and overwhelming rage that came over me. I leapt up and, using my leg against her arm as leverage, spun around and kicked her in the back of the head. She should have gone down from that. Should have ate pavement. But she managed to put her hands down and catch herself. Before she could stand I marched over and booted her in the side of her ribs. And as she was stumbling back I grabbed her by the front of her costume and punched her in the face. And then I did it again and again.

Then Dave yelled, "Enough!" and after seriously considering continuing to ruin her pretty face anyway, I let her go and she fell to the ground. I did enjoy seeing all the blood pouring from her nose though.

Dave sighed and pulled some napkins from one of the pouches on his belt that he keeps for just such an occasion(though it's usually it's his own blood he's mopping up.). As he knelt down in front of her and started cleaning her up he said, "Jesus christ Katie, why are you out here?"

And she answered, "Because I love you Dave. I miss you and want you back."

Dave asked, "What does that have to do with-"

And Katie cut him off by pointing at me and yelling, "Her! It has to do with her! She stole you from me." I laughed at that because if I had stolen Dave from anyone I would be in a MUCH better mood.

I was going to say as much, but Dave cut me off with a, "Hit Girl, stop, please." Then he looks at her and says, "Nobody stole me from you. You broke up with me."

And Katie said, "No, she did. She took a part of you that I could never get back. She took this part of you. She shares a part of you I was never able to. You and her just kept getting closer and closer. And then you picked her over me. Don't even try to deny it! I told you I wanted you to stop seeing her and you flat out refused.

"And then there's Riley. Who's gorgeous. I can't compete with her in looks. And I can't win against Mindy as long as she has this part of you all to herself. I thought...I thought if I could make a name for myself as hero, on my own, then I could have that part of you too. And then, I'd have that over Riley, and I'd be prettier than her," she said looking at me again, "so I'd have a chance with you again."

And then something really weird happened. She was looking at Dave, and he had his back to me so I couldn't see his face, but Katie's face...the only way I can think to describe it is that all the hope drained out of her face. And then she whispered so quietly that if there'd been a breeze it would have drowned it out, "I am, right?"

Dave didn't say anything I could hear, but Katie started crying. Dave stood up and looked down at her for a second before turning and walking back to me and saying, "You didn't do any permanent damage. She'll be fine. Let's get out of here."

And he put his hand on my shoulder and turned me around and started me walking away while Katie cried on the ground.

And now...I feel like I won a fight, lost a fight, and was denied a fight all at the same time and I don't know how to deal with this and it's keeping me up and I REALLY need to get some sleep and I just...Ugh. I wish I'd gotten to finish beating the crap out of Katie.


	175. Chapter 175

_**Mako's Message:**__omgwtfaskildafu I don't even what is this... God, I've wanted to write this chapter for...two years now? It's funny how you can have some things so planned out and yet miss the little details. This was just...wow. Once I managed to get into a "fuck it, just write something and fix it later" mindset it flowed pretty well, unfortunately not well enough to get it up yesterday. But here it is!_

_Hope you enjoy!_

**5**

* * *

Tonight was another one of those nights.

Except I don't think I've ever had a night quite like this. I'm still not sure how I feel about all this. I just know I hate Chris more than ever. He needs to die. Horribly. And the sooner the better.

We were out on patrol, when this car comes speeding up and makes a sharp turn, cutting us off and coming to a screeching halt right in front of us. Then this middle aged guy who's losing his hair gets out and holds his hands up and says, "I come in peace I swear!"

And then I realize where I've seen this guy. It's Gigante. And cop or not the first thing that came to mind was putting a bullet in his head. He was always on the list, just...never a priority. We had to find a way to make him disappear first. Missing and dead cops, especially high ranking ones, get a lot of attention.

Dave seemed to realize something was going on, but he obviously didn't know what, so he kept looking from this guy to me and back watching to see what would happen.

And then he said six words I never expected him to say, "I can take you to Chris."

Of course the first thing we both thought was, "It's a trap." Because taking us to Chris is entirely different from, say, bring _him_ to US. Then he comes walking around the car with his hands still up and says, "You need to trust me. Please. Things have not been going well for him and he's lost his goddamned mind." and by now he's close enough to us that we can see he looks like shit. His hair is a mess, he had bags under his eyes, it looked like he hadn't shaved in days, and his clothes looked slept in. "It's not just you guys, he's been fighting with the Bratva, the Mob, the Yakuza, you name em they're here trying to get a piece of the city. Hell, he was even fighting with his own family until he managed to get his uncle Ralph killed."

I will admit that last bit impressed me. Daddy and I had never been able to come up with a way to get that bastard. He had the warden eating out of his hand so his prison was more his fortress. Not that we couldn't come up with ways to get in, it was getting OUT that was the problem. And of course the Yakuza bit explained a LOT.

He could see we weren't biting though, so finally he just said, "Look, okay, he's still operating out of The Rainbow Factory. It's not the place it was. After you hit it he let it look like he'd abandoned the place, cut the power to the lower floors, stopped using it for recruiting, but kept the upper floors as his main base. So, there, okay? That's where he is. Go after him or not, up to you, but if you do you need to do it tonight because he'll realize I'm gone by morning and then he'll either pack up and leave or be waiting for you."

I was happy to get the info, but with him right there, right in front of me, I was having a hard time not just killing him right there on the sidewalk. I guess Dave could tell how wound up I was because he put his hand on my shoulder and almost whispered, "Hit Girl, don't do anything you'll regret."

And I said back, "Who say's I'll regret it."

Then he did whisper, so quiet I could barely hear him, "Mindy, please."

And that kinda brought the rest of the world back to me, and I was able to remember we were standing on a public street and there were people around, some even stopping to watch. So I swallowed, took a deep breath, and said, "Run, Gigante. Run and hide, and pray that we never see each other again."

And then he scrambled back into the car, peeled out, and sped off down the street.

Dave and I went somewhere quiet to discuss what Gigante had told us. We both wanted to take this opportunity to take Chris down, but it was suspicious as hell. The one thing we actually agreed on was that we didn't want to do this alone. We had no idea how many men he had or what to expect in there at all. But getting Justice Forever together on a moment's notice was all but impossible. They all had family stuff or work, or whatever after all. Things they can't just run out on.(Never thought still being in school would actually be an advantage.) Suspect or not though, we didn't want to risk this window of opportunity closing on us. We could only think of one person who'd be willing to drop whatever they were doing and come help us.

Biker Knight.

We called, but he didn't pick up. Instead, after it went to voice mail we got a text from him(Surprise surprise), "What's up?"

So we explained and he said he'd meet up with us at the same place we did last time in an hour.

Since we didn't have a nondescript van this time, we had to park the Hit-Mobile far away from the road leading to Chris's hideout and wait for Biker Knight on foot. Fortunately he showed up earlier than his predicted hour so we weren't waiting long.

As we walked down the road to it, The Rainbow Factory was completely dark, and I started worrying that we were being set up again. So we made sure to stay to the sides and stay low just in case they were watching for us. The building itself didn't look all that different from the last time, there was more graffiti on it, the door was boarded up, but still left enough room for an adult to fit through, and someone had painted the word "Horrors" over the word "dreams" in "Where dreams come true."

The first floor was empty, and pretty dirty(leaves, garbage, etc) but it looked like all the stuff was still there. The arcade cabinets, TVs, computers and all that other shit was still there surprisingly. The "store" was pretty well picked over though. Just a few things were left on the shelves.

We headed up to the next level and it was pretty much the same deal. The third was a little neater, and on the fourth we finally ran into someone.

His outfit was completely different. He was wearing an armored helmet with a crest kind of like Biker Knights, except the front was open with just a red visor over his eyes. He was wearing relatively light armor everywhere else except for his left arm, which was completely covered from the tips of his fingers all the way up to shoulder in steel. The sword that was as big as he was was the only thing that let me recognize him as "The Great White".

He'd been leaning against the wall with his sword standing up next to him, but when we came up he stood up and, pointed to me and Dave and said, "You two can head on upstairs." Then he turned to Biker Knight, "But you," and he grabbed his sword and hefted it up, "Are stayin' right here with me."

Biker Knight just took a step forward, popped the blades on his gauntlets, and nodded for us to go ahead.

They were still circling each other by the time we were too far up the steps to see them.

The next floor was vacant as well. Didn't stop me from checking around that blind corner with a mirror though. I surprised by how many flashbacks I had walking through that room. I caught Dave shuddering so he must have felt the same.

The elevator was unlocked which finally clinched that we were being set up.

When we got to the next floor, Chris's "Evil Lair", it was almost completely dark. Just some light from the giant fishtank which still had a shark in it. It seemed a little livelier this time so I guess Chris finally figured out what was wrong with it.

Then Chris's voice came over a PA system, ""Kick-Ass! Hit Girl! Long time no see! I guess Gigante ratted me out after all. The traitor. But, I expected him to go to you when I let him get away, so I guess it balances out.

"Anyway, I was hoping you'd come visit because I have a new friend for you to meet." And then the lights started coming on, row by row, until they lit up the top of that pyramid thing in the center of the room, and there was a girl standing at the top. She was dressed in a costume that looked like a cross between my own and Chris's Red Mist costume. It even had the same sort of hair, except it pointed down instead of up. The thing that I really noticed though was that her face was completely blank.

"Introducing, Psycho Girl!" The girl didn't move or react at all. Then he said, "Say 'Hello' Psycho Girl."

Then the girl spoke, and said exactly and only, "Hello."

"She's not much of a conversationalist, but she's a LOT of fun. Don't we have fun together every night?"

And the girl said, "Yes." and started to walk slowly down the steps.

"How do we have fun, exactly?"

"You fuck me."

"Ah ah ah, be specific Psycho Girl."

"You fuck me in the ass."

"And what do I call you while I'm fucking you in the ass?"

"Hit Girl."

"And what do you call me?"

"Big Daddy."

"And you love it, don't you."

"Every second."

And I just felt completely sick. I can't even describe what I felt after hearing that and looking at her standing there, looking at me with these completely dead eyes.

"Now, Psycho Girl is here for a play date with Hit Girl only. Kick-Ass, you can come through the door at the back of the room to see me. Alone. If Hit Girl tries to come with you, I'm gonna blow the whole building. If you try and fight Psycho Girl together, I'm gonna blow the whole building. If you take more than thirty seconds to comply, I'm gonna, SURPRISE! Blow the whole building."

Dave and I looked at each other. It was probably a bluff, assuming Chris was even in the building. But he'd certainly proved that he was a complete psycho and would probably happily die if it meant killing us too. And he certainly didn't give a shit about Psycho Girl or The Great White. But then I nodded to Dave for him to go. As much as I wanted to kill Chris myself, I couldn't deny that they had a personal vendetta against each other that outranked mine.

So, Dave headed off across the room, gave me one last look as he rounded the pyramid, and then disappeared, leaving me alone with my new "playmate".

Then Chris said, "Alight. Playtime!"

And just like that her face went from a mask of utter indifference to complete rage. She went for the gun on her hip and so did I. We fired and we were both knocked backwards off our feet. It took me a second to get my breath back, but then I popped back into a sitting position and shot at her again, just as she did the same. I skidded across the floor a bit and coughed as I tried to get up again. Then Chris said, "C'mon ladies, this is boring, GET IN THERE AND BEAT THE SHIT OUT OF EACH OTHER!"

And she launched herself at me, screaming and drawing a pair of sai and stabbing them into the floor just as I rolled out of the way. I'd lost my gun after getting shot again, and she was closing too fast to use my throwing knives, so I pulled my staff off my back and just managed to block her next strike.

She had my staff trapped and was trying to force me back. I managed to kick her backwards and split my staff. When the center piece dropped as I drew my swords I kicked it at her, but she just swatted it out of the air.

Drawing the swords was a mistake though. I thought being able to come at her with two weapons would make it harder for her, but she didn't have any problems guarding and trapping my swords. The only time I was able to hit her was when she'd trapped both my blades, but she learned pretty quickly to try and hit me first instead of trying to force me down.

Eventually though, she found a way to stop me from kicking out by forcing our weapons down between us, and she finally managed to do what she'd probably been trying to do whole time. She broke my swords.

I wasn't expecting it, so when they snapped and the pressure was gone I stumbled and she kicked me in the chest. I fell onto my back and she jumped on top of me, trying to jam the sai tips through my face. I caught her wrists, but she had me pinned and was able to put all her weight into it. I couldn't get her off me, couldn't roll, so I tried to just pull her arms apart so they'd miss my head. It was a near thing. Once I stopped pushing back they came down _really_ fast, one even cut my cheek from right under my eye all the way to my ear.

The sai embedded in the floor and I punched her in the face.

She got off me and pulled her weapons out of the floor and I rolled to my feet. I was kinda screwed, because she was too close to make throwing a knife an option, and as soon as I made any move she was going to be on me in an instant. I did have one option though. The nunchauks Dave gave me.

I'd been practicing with them nearly every day, but I'd never tried to use them in a real fight. Hadn't even trained with them against Dave. But I carried them with me every night just in case. And right now they were my last resort.

I dove to the side and rolled to my feet as I pulled them out, just dodging her as she lunged at me. For a second she seemed confused as I held my chucks at the ready, then she was back to rage and came at me again. I side stepped and caught one of her sai with the chain and flipped her.

And from there I had the upper hand. She wasn't able to trap these, since they just wrapped around her sai. And if she did manage to catch them, I was able to pull her off balance.

Then she got REALLY pissed and threw both her sai at me, tackled me to the ground, grabbed me around the throat and started trying to beat my head against the floor. But since my hands were free, and I still had my nunchauks, I smashed her in the face with them.

That really dazed her and I was able to get on top of her and pin her to the floor. I grabbed one of my throwing knives and was about to stab her in the throat...but even with her spitting obscenities at me and screaming, "I'll kill you! I'll kill you!", I couldn't kill her.

The girl was totally insane. There was no doubt about that. Whatever Chris had done to her had completely broken her mind and turned her into nothing more than a weapon to throw at me.

So I dropped the knife and grabbed the zip cuffs Dave insists I carry and managed to force them on her. It didn't stop her though. She just kept screaming and struggling to the point that she was actually starting to cut her wrists open. So I pulled the wire from my belt and started looping it around her wrists and ankles to try and keep her from hurting herself anymore.

It just made her flip out even more. In between the curses and death threats she was sobbing. Her eyes where still full of rage and murder but tears were streaming down her face as she rolled around on the floor trying to free herself.

There was nothing more I could do to restrain her and I couldn't watch this anymore and I was worried about Dave so I left her there to go try and catch up with Dave.

It was then that I realized the bastard had been playing the theme to Mortal Kombat over the speakers.

So I ran after Dave, followed a hall to a sort of security room, with camera's monitoring all the floors, and then up another set of stairs to the roof, where Dave was standing at the edge screaming, "You better keep running! Cause if I ever catch you I'M GONNA KILL YOU!"

And it took me a minute to realize he was yelling at the helicopter that was flying away. And I said, like an idiot, "He has a helicopter?"

And Dave looks over at me, and a wave of relief washes over his face, and then he's shaking his head, "Yeah, it's just a little two seat thing but it was enough to get his bitch ass off this roof."

That's when I notice a couple slashes across his costume that exposed the armor underneath. I asked, "You okay?"

And he looked down at the slash across his chest, "Oh, yeah, I'm fine. Thanks to you. He's a lot better with that thing than I was expecting."

I grinned at him, "You still sent him running though."

"Well, he wasn't expecting these," and he held up his unsheathed short swords. Then he said, "So how'd you do?"

And I said, "You need to come see this."

So we went back down to where the girl was still rolling around on the floor, raging and crying. She'd managed to knock her wig off and her wrists where covered in blood.

Dave just looked at her sand said one word, "Jesus."

I borrowed the pen and paper he keeps on him to leave his stupid, "Friendly Neighborhood Superhero" and wrote my own. "This girl has been physically, mentally, and sexually abused by Chris D'Amico aka The Motherfucker. Please make sure she gets the appropriate help." and tucked it into her belt after she'd managed to exhaust herself. And then we called 911 so someone could come pick her up.

We headed downstairs to where we left Biker Knight. We weren't too worried, since he'd already managed to kick Whitey's ass a time or two. When we got back down the first thing we saw was him sitting on the floor at the base of one of the pillars, holding his thigh which was bleeding enough to have left a pool on the floor. The visor on his helmet was cracked too. He was alive though, and once we got him bandaged up a bit we were pretty sure he was going to stay that way.

Then we noticed Whitey. He was laid out on the floor, with his sword embedded in the floor. Right through his skull.

Dave helped Biker Knight to his feet and down the stairs. By the time we were halfway down the road outside though, Biker Knight was just hanging off of him.

We tried to talk him into going to the hospital, but he flat out refused. When we pushed he smashed his fist on the dashboard. Obviously he needed help so we started making some calls.

White Mage was PISSED. She said that if we'd said we were going to go in whether we had help or not she would have made an excuse. I also got Sting to come in while Dave tried to get Col Stars on the phone to open up headquarters.

We really should have taken him to a hospital. He was barely conscious by the time we got him to HQ so it's not like he could have fought us over it.

But White Mage got there soon after we did, used a pair of metal shears to cut open his chain mail pants enough to stitch him up properly. We set him up on a moth eaten couch in the back. We left him in costume though, after deciding that now that he wasn't in mortal danger any more we should respect his desire for anonymity.

Insect Guy called in to say the girl had been picked up, taken to a hospital to get her wounds treated, and was now being held in the psychiatric ward.

I just want Chris dead so bad.


	176. Chapter 176

We fucking lost!

I can't fucking believe it! The judges must have been on the take or something.

Okay, so, we didn't LOSE lose, we finished second. But it's the same thing!

I was actually looking forward to this! This was supposed to be a nice break. A full weekend away from all the shit going on at home. And normally I wouldn't want to be away from the city for even this long, but everything has been so crazy these last couple of weeks. I try to get as much sleep as I can but I just haven't been sleeping well and I feel like I'm running on fumes. This was a chance for me to relax and catch up on some sleep. And then this bullshit! Completely ruined my mood!

At least I got to relax for most of yesterday.

Everybody else is just so excited to have come in second. Even Coach Baum is happy about where we placed. The only person that's even half as pissed as me about this is Cameron. I found her sitting in the restaurant eating her way through a massive sundae covered in all sorts of syrup and sprinkles and candy and all sorts of crap. It made my teeth hurt just looking at it.

I've never seen her eat so much junk.

When I sat down across from her she asked why I wasn't celebrating with the rest of the team. I said, "Why would I celebrate second place?"

She looked at me and kinda smirked for just a second before handing me a spoon.

I'm not one for candy and sprinkles on my sundaes, but I was able to pick out a few spots that just had fudge on them.

After a couple minutes she asked, "So you like the competitions?"

I shrugged and said, "It's best part of being on this team."

She picked up her spoon and twisted it around, looking at the glob of ice cream and sauce dripping from it and said, "I always thought so." then stuffed it all in her mouth.

Then she stabbed the sundae with the spoon and said, "This is the furthest we've ever come. The closest to winning nationals."

So I said, "There's always next year."

And she looked at me and said, "Not for me. I graduate this year."

The only thing I could think to say was, "Sorry."

She gave me a quick smile and said, "Don't be. You're the reason we got this far. Not just because you were the smallest one on the team and able to do amazing gymnastics, but because you pushed the rest of the girls to be better. You raised the bar for us."

So we lost, and next year Cameron and Tashaya won't be there, so somebody else is going to be in charge and I don't know if I want to do this again if some dizzy bitch takes over her role. I don't even want to think about what this team could turn into if someone like Cici took over. Or Jackie.

God this sucks. I can't wait for summer to get here so all this school crap will be over and I can relax.


	177. Chapter 177

_**Mako's Message: **-lights cigar- I love it when a plan falls apart._

_I tried something...a little different this chapter, so, if you notice something a little off, it was probably intentional. Feel free to comment on whatever you feel worth commenting on._

**3**

* * *

Tonight was fucking weird even for us.

It's like Chris broke through the depravity barrier or something and now all these assholes are just pouring through.

I actually kinda wish that was true. Then maybe by killing him we could cut off the evil at it's source. But there've been seriously demented and twisted fucks since the beginning of time.

Nothing is ever easy.

So we're out on patrol, checking on a few places that've been getting harassed, keeping an eye out for trouble, ya know, the usual.

Then we come to this alley and there's this big group of people gathered around one of the dumpsters. Some people are taking pictures, some are crying off to the side, some are just standing around talking.

So we go to take a look and see what's going on. About halfway there one of them spots us and yells, "Kick-Ass! Hit Girl! You gotta see this shit!"

So now everybody's talking even more and making a path for us to the dumpster, and we go over and look in, and there's a dead body. Nothing special, right? We see this all the time, right?

Nope.

Fucker had his heart cut out. Big, gaping hole, right in his chest. Looked like he got stabbed with a giant apple corer.

There was surprisingly little blood. But I guess that makes sense, because if the heart is gone, the blood will stop flowing and just leave what's in the body to run out on it's own.

So, I called Marcus while Dave started questioning people about the body. Who found it, when they found it, did they have any idea when it got there, did anybody touch it, that sort of thing. The answers were a busboy from the restaurant the dumpster was behind, about half an hour ago, within the last six hours, and no.

Marcus wasn't happy about this. Apparently this wasn't the first one since he mentioned it to me a couple weeks ago. So either this guy is getting sloppy, or he's striking more often. If it's the first one he should be behind bars soon. If it's the other...we'll probably be seeing a lot more bodies.

We stuck around to make sure nobody did anything stupid with the body until the cops came and then we gtfo.

Shit I'm tired.


	178. Chapter 178

_**Mako's Message: **Welp. This is another of those times where whatever it was I was going to say here completely left my brain, so I'll keep this quick. This was inspired by a news report I saw a month or two ago. And it had to happen sooner or later._

**2**

* * *

Angela can't reach a pitch that'll shatter glass, but she can come damn close.

And this is all because of

Well, it actually

Ya know, I don't know when all this bullshit started. Might even go back before my birthday.

Whenever it started, last night didn't help at all. It actually kinda hit critical mass.

We'd just finished our finals, which was a huge fucking relief. If things hadn't been so crazy out on the streets lately, I might have considered taking the week off. But it WAS that crazy. Hell, Marcus and I have barely seen each other the last two weeks. Normally I'll see him either before school, after school, or when I come home from patrol. I think the only reason either of us came home was to sleep. Not that I've been able sleep much. I don't even like thinking about some of the dreams I've been having.

I'm pretty sure I did well on them though. Not as well as last year, but well.

Anyway, we decided we were going to "reward" ourselves for making it through finals by taking some easy requests instead of looking into drug dens or deals, prostitution, possible robberies, or even patroling.

So, we went to go help a woman try and help her sister get out of an abusive relationship, since the boyfriend had started not letting her leave the house.

Normally that's the sort of request Alice or Insect Guy would take, but like I said, we wanted to try and have a chill night without slacking.

Boy did that not fucking happen. Holy shit. It's a good thing we ended up going to help. I don't think Insect Guy or White Mage would have been equipped to handle that sort of shit. Sure, it might have happened a little sooner because it was us, but the guy was a complete nutty nut bar and he would have flipped his shit sooner or later.

So we meet up with this woman outside the apartment building, and she's like, "Oh my god I never expected it'd be you two." And it felt pretty good, honestly, because suddenly she just looked like, "I can DO this. This IS going to happen".

So she lead us up to this guy's apartment, where her sister had been living with him voluntarily until he turned psycho-paranoid and stopped letting her leave. We were just there as back up though, ya know, to put some muscle where her mouth was to make sure he didn't hurt anyone. Yeah, that's what happened.

We get to the apartment and she starts banging on the door, yelling at him to open it and let her sister out. We're just hanging back, cause this is something she and her sister need to handle, but then he finally opens the door, with the chain still on, sees us, and flips his shit.

He slammed the door shut and started yelling about how he knew we were coming for him and we'd never take him alive or something. It was hard to hear him through the door. Then we hear the sister start screaming, so Dave and I kick in the door.

Inside he's got a bullet proof vest on and he's got an AR-15 with a scope and knife attached in one hand, and he's trying to drag the sister somewhere. Then he lets her go and starts shooting at us before we can get close enough to do anything.

The sisters are understandably freaking out, the guy is yelling shit that, that between the screaming and gun fire, neither of us can understand as he backs down the apartment hallway and trying to drag the girlfriend with him between shots, and we're trying to figure out how to take this guy out ASAP, but the girlfriend being between us and him is making things really tricky.

Suddenly the shooting stops, and we go running down the hall after him, only to find the girl crying next to an open window, and we can hear screaming from the next apartment. We look out the window and see the next one over is broken in and just within reach.

We run back out into the hallway, where this woman is standing in the next apartment's doorway watching as the door to the emergency exit slams shut.

So we chase after him, and when we get through the door, we see he headed for the roof. Dave's looking up the steps after and says, "Shit" and I knew he was thinking the same thing I was. What if the paranoid freak starts shooting at people from the roof?

We chased him up the stairs and as soon as we open the roof access door the brick next to us explodes and we duck back into the stairwell as he starts firing again.

At this point I have completely lost all patience with this guy and yell, "If you fire one more shot I'm going to blow your fucking head off!"

The sisters had followed us and caught up right about then, and the bastard shot at us again, so I pulled my gun and was about to lean around the corner and shoot the son-of-a-bitch, but the girlfriend grabbed my arm and begged me not to kill him, saying he'd just gone off his meds.

So Dave yells out, "Your girlfriend is begging for your life! Drop the gun so we don't have to hurt you!"

And the shooting stopped, and it stayed stopped, so Dave said, "Alright, I'm coming out and I want your hands in the air."

And as soon as Dave stepped out, he was shot right in the chest.

I almost screamed his name, but caught myself, so it sounded like, "DA-AAAAAARRGH!" and I stepped around the corner already shooting. I was shooting before I even had a target so of course the first couple of shots missed, but then he leapt off the roof and I ended up just hitting the wall.

Dave was okay though, between the kevlar and the plating he just got the wind knocked out of him.

I ran over to the edge of the roof, and the building was right up against another building, so he'd only dropped about twelve feet and he was walking backwards aiming up at us. Fortunately, after a couple more shots he ran out, and when he was switching to a handgun I was able to shoot him in the shoulder.

He tried to shoot at us again, but every time he tried to raise his gun I plugged him right in the vest. By the time we got to him he could barely move. Probably broke a few ribs. Would have loved to do more.

So we got him cuffed, dragged him down to the street and tied him to a light pole for the police to pick up, which thankfully wouldn't be long because even if nobody else called in the gunfire, the sister, the one who asked us for help, had the sense to call the police during all that.

But after the adrenaline crash I just felt completely wiped out, so Dave drove us home.

And while I was sitting there, looking out the window I realized we'd have to go by my neighborhood to get back to the safe house, so I asked Dave to just drop me off at home.

He was worried about someone seeing me, but I said it was late and dark and we had a hoodie I could throw on over my costume and I'd take the wig and mask off and nobody would notice. Then he said, "Okay, fine, so no one sees Hit Girl go into your house, but what about people seeing Mindy getting out of the Hit Mobile? It's kind of distinctive."

So I said, "Just cut the engine and coast down the block, you wont have to stop and nobody will notice."

He still didn't like it, but I gave him puppy dog eyes and he gave up arguing with me and agreed.

He muttered something with the words "cute" and "unfair", which was nice to hear. Progress is being made. I think.

Anyway, the plan went off without a hitch. The street was mostly dark, no one was walking down that block, and timed it almost perfectly so the car was only doing about five as it coasted by the house so hopping out was cake. Marcus wasn't home yet, so I tossed the hoodie over the banister and went up to my room. I sat down on my bed, which was probably a mistake, and only managed to get my boots off before I passed out.

Which, wouldn't normally have been a problem, except that today is Saturday, and I'd agreed to go to the mall with Angela to celebrate the unofficial end of school.

So, Angela came over, and asked Marcus where I was, and he said he thought I was still sleeping and that she could go ahead upstairs cause it was about time I got up anyway.

So she went upstairs, saw me sleeping, and I woke up to Angela squealing and bouncing around my room like Pinkie Pie on a sugar high.

I didn't even realize what she was freaking out about at first. I looked up at her like, "What the fuck Angela. Calm your tits." and then I went to rub at my eyes, felt my glove, and suddenly it all made sense.

That was about when Marcus came running in to see what was the matter, saw me in my costume, and facepalmed saying, "Goddammit Mindy."

And I said, "Angela! Seriously! Turn it down! It's too early for this shit."

And Marcus said, "It's actually after noon. If you hadn't slept in so late this wouldn't have happened."

So I said, "Hey, I got in before midnight, I was just exhausted."

"Yeah, I heard about what you were up to last night."

Meanwhile, Angela's still squeeing at a painful level in between going, "Ohmygodohmygodohmygod, you're Hit Girl! And you know! My best friend is Hit Girl! Ohmygodohmygodohmygod!"

Then at one point she froze and gasped and said, "So Dave must be Kick-Ass! That explains SO much! OhmygodohmygodohmyGOD!"

And I just groaned and sank my face into both hands. I mean, is everybody who finds out about one of us going to immediately realize who the other is? First Marty, then Jessi, now Angela. Is it that obvious?

When she eventually started to calm down, a little, she started asking to be a superhero. I shot that down real fucking quick. She asked why not and I told her, "It's not like it was two years ago. Hell, it's not like it was LAST year. If you go out on those streets in a costume there's a fucking bullseye on your head." and to emphasize my point I held up to fingers like a gun and jammed them into the side of her head."

And she brushed my hand away and said, "But you and Dave go out."

I said, "I've been training for this since I was five. And Dave is-" I still can't find the right words to describe Dave, so I settled for, "Special."

That was the first and only time Angela was still or quiet, and then gasped again and covered her mouth and said, "Oh my god. That was your Dad."

And I couldn't say anything to her. Not at first. It took me a few seconds, but I finally said, "Yeah. It was."

She said "I am so sorry" and hugged me. And this was a completely different kind of hug from the usual quick, excited and/or friendly squeezes she usually gives me. It was a full hug, and she held on real tight, and...it felt kind of like the hugs Dave will give me.

And for that first second, I liked it.

Then I tried to shrug her off and her to let go of me and pushed her away. Not in a mean way, just...

So then Angela said "I still don't see why I can't be a hero with you too. You're practically already training me."

I just laughed and said, "The exercises I gave you aren't even half of what Dave and I do everyday."

And she said, "So train me harder!"

I told her, "No. I am not going to be responsible for you going out there and getting hurt or killed."

She got all mopey after that, but seemed to accept it. And then she started getting all giggly again about being best friends with Hit Girl.

If she doesn't cut this out soon I'm not going to the mall with her.


	179. Chapter 179

_**Mako's Message: **So, I've seen the word "Macewski" getting tossed around as the name for this pairing. Thoughts?  
And yeah, I know this is short, but really, I think I could have gotten away with only seven words. Try to guess what they are._

**1**

* * *

I'm doomed.

Completely and utterly screwed.

My chances with Dave have gone from slim but possible, to completely and utterly non-existent.

I can't even

I had no idea they were

Shit.

I really thought Dave might be starting to see me the way I see him. I'm thirteen now. An actual teenager. That has to count for something. And he's so good to me. He helped me when I was hungover, he's stayed up with me when I can't sleep. I thought, just maybe, he might LIKE me.

I was wrong though. None of that had to do with him loving me.

Well, not the "I wanna fuck her" kind of love at least. He probably just sees me as a little sister. At best.

And with everything that's been going, all the special moments we shared, I was really forgetting that he's with Riley.

But now that he's moving in with her, I don't think I'll ever be forgetting that again.


	180. Chapter 180

**0**

_And here-we-go.  
_

* * *

I'm a fool.

And a child.

I am a foolish child.

I don't know what I thought sneaking into his room, taking my clothes off, climbing into bed with him, and putting his hands on me would accomplish. But if I thought that would actually bring us closer it backfired spectacularly.

But for that short moment when I had his hand on my breast, it was heaven.

It wasn't worth it.

I don't think I've ever seen Dave so mad before. Not at me. He _yelled_ at me. Actually yelled at me. A lot.

God, I don't think I've felt this bad since Daddy died.

Just- Fucking hell.

I don't know what to do.

He just left me there. He yelled at me and then just left me there, curled up on his bed.

I have no idea where he went. I don't know when I'll see him again or if he'll even talk to me again after this.

And it was embarrassing on top of it all. As if getting yelled at while naked wasn't bad enough, when I managed to croak out, "But I love you," ya know what he said?

"I know."

He said he'd known for ages. That everybody knew. Marty, Todd, Angela, and Riley. The cheerleading team. Marcus. The only person he didn't name was his Dad and if Dave was telling the truth about everybody else than if his Dad really doesn't know it's only because I barely see him.

And then he said that spending so much time with me had been a mistake. That all the times we stayed up talking or texting, when we curled up together watching TV or a movie, the nights we spent in the same bed with his arms around me, should never have happened.

He said I didn't understand that, that I thought it was okay, that he hadn't been wrong to do those things, because I was a child.

And maybe he's right. Why else would I do something so stupid?

I don't even know why I did it. I just had to do something. I thought that-

I don't know what I thought. Every time I try to look back at why I did it, all I can think is "Stupid stupid stupid stupid."

Dave was everything but a lover to me. I had almost everything I wanted. And then with one foolish decision, I crossed a line and lost it all.


	181. Chapter 181

I now officially consider Alice a friend.

I mean, how could I not? I just spent the better part of the day crying on her.

I don't know just how long I spent at Dave's house before I finally pulled my shit together. Well, together enough to call someone. I almost called Angela, but even with her knowing about me being Hit Girl and my interest in Dave, I didn't think she'd be able to help with this. She's been great, she really has, but this was so far beyond her the sound from this blow up won't reach her for three more days. This was a fail of nuclear proportions. Marcus, obviously, wasn't an option either.

But Alice did give me her phone number and told me to call her if I ever needed someone to talk to. So I did. I tried to talk to her over the phone, but my voice kept breaking so she asked if I wanted her to come get me.

And after a moment I decided I did. I gave her the intersection next to a park a few blocks from Dave's house then went to wait for her.

She lives just outside the city, so it took her about twenty minutes to get there. I didn't mind the wait though, especially since I wasn't in Dave's house anymore. It gave me some time to pull myself together.

When she pulled up there was brief awkward moment where she just stood there, looking over her car at each other. Finally she said, "So, did you want to talk here or...we could go back to my place?"

I wanted to be somewhere private, and I couldn't think of anywhere else to go, so I said, "Your place is fine."

A part of me told me that this was a bad idea. That even though I'd worked side by side with this woman for months, that she'd known my secret for half as long, I shouldn't get in the car with her and let her take me to an unknown location. I could have suggested going to headquarters, but other people might be there. There's Safe House C, but I just didn't want to bring her there. But I'd thought of all that before this voice started whispering at me. So I just told it to shut up and that I hoped something did happen because it would take my mind off of potentially losing my best friend and partner forever.

The drive wasn't long. It actually seemed to go by a lot faster than her getting there. We didn't talk until we got to her house though, which was in this nice little housing complex that you'd never guess was just outside New York City. It was like it was in it's own little world. It was as creepy as it was nice.

So when she pulled up in front of this house that had to have at least four bedrooms and said, "Well, here we are." I was kinda surprised. I mean, as a general rule we didn't ask each other for more information than they were willing to volunteer, so I didn't know what Alice was doing for a living now that she was out of the military, but the house was way more than I ever expected.

So I asked her, "This is your house?"

And she kinda smiled weakly and said, "Well, I live here, but it's not my house. It's my brother and his wife's, and kids."

For a split second my stomach dropped into my shoes. I mean, how where we supposed to talk with all those people there? And how would she explain why she brought a 13-year-old girl home with her?

She must have noticed my worry because she said, "Don't worry, they're all out for the day."

I nodded and followed her into the house, then asked, "So, does your family know about your hobby?"

She grinned and said, "Nope. They think I go to counseling."

I smiled and said, "Sneaky." Then looked around and said, "You've got a nice place here."

"Thanks. It'd be nice to have a place like this of my own someday. Not quite this big though."

I said, "Yeah. It'd be nice to-" and all of a sudden I was thinking so far beyond anything I'd ever thought about before. I don't think I'd ever thought about Dave and I being much older than we are now, but suddenly I was imagining what we'd look like in ten years, with kids and a house of our own. With a secret lair in the basement.

I don't know how long I was off in fantasy land, but when Alice finally shook me out of it she was sitting next to me on the couch and had an arm around me. I was also crying. Not total-breakdown-sobbing like I'd been earlier, just tears running down my face as I realized how much I wanted Dave and I to be together and how impossible it all seemed.

And she just held onto me for a moment before asking, "What happened?"

So, I told her all about how I'd thought we were getting closer and

that he just might like me the way I like him, how I found out he was moving in with Riley, my brilliant idea to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat by crawling, naked, into his arms while he slept and put his hands on me, and how he flipped out when he woke up to discover what I'd done. It took me awhile, since I kept choking up and having little mini breakdowns, all while a little voice nagged at me that I shouldn't give a shit and had more important things to worry about, but I got through it.

When I was finished talking Alice let out a long breath and said, "Oh wow."

I asked her, "What am I supposed to do? I just lost my best friend."

She said, "I don't think you lost him," and pinched the bridge of her nose, "You fucked up big time, and it might take some time to fix things, but I don't think you've lost him."

When I asked her how she could think that, she said, "Well, look at the facts. He's known how you felt about him for ages, right? But he didn't stop you from snuggling up to him while hanging out, or sitting on his lap, or any of the other things he said it was a mistake for him to do. And maybe it was. Not gonna lie. But he did let you do those things. And he was always there for you, right? When you needed him? And don't forget he chose you over his girlfriend. The boy likes you. May not be interested in fucking you, but he likes you. So, I think, if you apologize for crossing that line, and if he accepts, then I think you'll be able to fix things. The door to being his lover might have slammed shut, but you'll get your friend back." Then she grinned at me and added, "And who knows? Maybe if things with Riley fall apart, in a couple years, he might give being with you some serious thought."

And I looked at her, and I said, "What am I supposed to do until then?"

Her grin turned into a sad smile, "Wait? Try to move on? Date someone a little more age appropriate? Like, whatever happened with that boy that was interested in you? Darren?"

"Dillon. He's dating someone."

Ans she said, "And maybe you should too."

So I told her, "But I don't _want_ anyone else." And she just let me sit there and open and shut my mouth like a gasping fish while I tried to figure out how to explain it. And even then I ended up babbling a bit, but what I said was something like, "Dave is the only person that really knows me and he accepts who I am. No other boy at school, no matter how cute he might be, can understand what I've been through, let alone stand beside me through it. And not many heroes could do it either, but they don't know me the way Dave does and I don't want them too. And Dave has a drive for this. He didn't do it because other people were and thought it was something they wanted in on. He went out and did it on his own because he wanted to make the world a better place. How many people would do that? I just can't imagine not having him in my life. I love him so much it hurts and knowing that he's with another girl makes me want to die."

And when I finally stopped rambling, she said, "I understand everything you said, everything you're feeling, and I wish I had someone like that. I'm actually jealous. The only boyfriend I've had since coming back, the only friend I had before you guys, was another soldier. Unfortunately, that wasn't enough for us to really base a relationship on. So, when I decided to put on a costume and go out on the streets I broke it off with him. I feel less alone just sitting in that basement with all of you than I ever did with him, or even in this house. You're like my second family. And you're my younger, hotter, sister."

I glowered at her when she said that and said, "I'm not hotter than you."

And she smirked and said, "Give it a few years." Then she sighed and closed her eyes and after a minute she said, "You feel you're going to lose him. That he's going to be with Riley and she's going to become the girl in his life, which is what you had started to feel you were." She then looked at me and said with complete seriousness, "When his girlfriend, the girl he'd wanted for years, told him she didn't want him to see you anymore he refused. When this girl broke up with him and started rumors that had gotten him attacked in school, he still kept you around. Right?"

Now, Dave did kinda put some distance between us, but even I can admit it was nessecary, so I nodded my head in agreement.

So she said, "I think, that whatever happens between him and Riley, or any other girls after her, that you are always going to be a big part of his life. So if you want him, you're going to have to use that bond. Don't let him forget that you want to be more than friends, but don't push either. Just make sure he knows that if he ever starts to think about taking it to the next level, that you want him to. But if your feelings ever change, make sure he knows that too. The last thing you two need is for him to decide he wants to be with you only to find out you aren't interested anymore."

I told her, "But I don't want to wait. I want him now. I want to spend our days off cuddled up on the couch, talking and kissing. I want to come home from patrols and climb into bed with him and fall asleep with his arms around me. I want to wake up to him kissing my neck and running his hands over my body. I want us to train together, work up a heavy sweat, and end with him taking me against a wall. I want him to be there with me.

Alice said, "Well, you've got two of those. Two and a half maybe. You have come home from patrols and gone to bed together. You have spent days curled up with him. And he's there for you."

"I want him all the time. Not just when he can make time for me."

Then she smirked at me and said, "I think this is just as much about you being afraid of losing your friend as it about you not being able to have him as your boyfriend."

And as much as I hated to admit she could read me that well, she was right. I'd been fine with Dave dating Riley. So fine with it I'd all but forgotten they were together. We still hung out and had fun, with Marty, Todd and Angel or by ourselves. But a lot of that "just me and him" time was at his house. I can't imagine I'd be welcome to hang out with him at his new place. After all, it's not like Riley doesn't know I want him.

I don't know why she ever encouraged me though. That was just cruel. Like I could ever win against her. She did give me that "head start" on Dave's Birthday though... Ugh. It's all just so stupid.

Anyway, Alice told me that there may be nothing I can do but wait for him to be single again, and if that's a few years from now, all the better because I'll be older, more developed, and the age gap won't be as bad.

I don't think I can do that though. If I have to spend the next two or three years seeing him with Riley, I think I'll loose my fucking mind.

* * *

_**Mako's Explanation:** Hey all! So, here's what happened. On Sept 11th I was notified that the building I rented an apartment in had been sold, and because the new owners wished to renovate the entire building, we had until Oct 15th to get out. So, I spent the next month looking for a place to live. I have one. And I'm moved in. But I'm hardly call myself settled yet. The last week has been complete hell, both from moving and medical issues with my son. So, this was written in starts and stops, and while I like each individual paragraph I'm not so sure about the chapter as a whole. So. there. That's where I've been the last six weeks. _

_Next chapter should be up tomorrow.  
_


	182. Chapter 182

_**Mako's Message: **_

_Readers: Yo, mako! you said this would be up yesterday! What gives?_

_Mako: Shit happens._

_Anyway, there's not much to this chapter but I just love it so much._

* * *

I'm really looking forward to this summer. Not only will I be able to sleep in again, but I've got a whole new outlook on life and summer is the perfect time for it to start.

And Alice was right; I didn't fuck things up anywhere near as bad as I thought I had.

School is pretty much over for the seniors now that finals are over. Nobody expects them to show up. I know for a fact that some of the teachers specifically asked them not to come in the last week so they could get a head start on their end of year work. Dave was one of the ones that was more than happy to not come in. The lucky bastard.

So, imagine my surprise when, while I'm sitting on the steps outside of school waiting for classes to start, Dave come walking towards me across the lawn. He sits down next to me and without looking at me says, "I'm sorry for freaking out on you like that. I didn't meant to make you cry. You seriously crossed a line there, but I could have handled it better." Then he passed me a brown paper bag and said, "Peace offering?"

I closed my book and took the bag and pulled out a massive, fresh baked, mixed berry muffin.

I couldn't help smiling. It's always nice to have your fears dispelled, and this particular fear couldn't have been dispelled in a better way. I knew I had to apologize to though, so I sat there and rolled the muffin back and forth in my hands trying to find the right words. I settled on, "I completely understand you freaking out. What I did wasn't cool. At all. So, yeah, I'm sorry about that."

And he looked at me and said, "So we're good?"

And grinned and nodded and said, "Yeah, we're good." Then as we sat there, just being glad we'd gotten passed that, I had this idea that was just too good to pass up.

I asked him, "So, do you want to try my muffin?"

And he started saying, "No, thanks, I alre-" and he stopped, he squinted at me, and he must have caught my tone because he asked, "Was that an innuendo?"

And I grinned so wide it hurt and said, "Yup."

And his eyes went wide and he said, "You're not even going to pretend anymore, are you?"

And I said, "Nope."

And he dropped his head down and said, "oh fuck me."

So I said, "Gladly."

And then he cupped his face in his hands and groaned.

I wanted to keep teasing him, but the bell rang then so I got up, threw my backpack over my shoulder, patted him on the shoulder and said, "Thanks for the muffin" then headed in, leaving him there on the steps with his head in his hands.

I'm so looking forward to going shopping with Angela next weekend. This is going to be a great summer.

* * *

_**Mako's Follow Up:**__Thank you for all the concern and well wishes. It's much appreciated. _

_Just wanted to explain a bit more to ease some of that concern though._

_My son has asthma, and between the move and the rapidly fluctuating temperatures we've had here lately, it was set off pretty bad. It necessitated a few doctors appointments and a trip to the ER(which wasn't really necessary and got him so hyped up on stimulants and steroids he was like Hit Girl at the end of the Mother Russia fight). In an example of supreme irony, I'm actually so poor I have state health care coverage for me and my son so we're fully covered for all of it._

_Also, after, thanks to donations from some of you and half my family, I avoided eviction last year, my lease was changed to month-to-month, and since I was actually given (barely)more than a month's notice, my getting the boot was completely legit. And I wouldn't have been able to afford my old place much longer anyway. I can also walk to work from my new place so my monthly expenses have been reduced by about $100. So I'm more or less doing fine._

_Thank you all once again.  
_


	183. Chapter 183

_**Mako's Message: **So, you know how it is, I was just going about my life, working on some projects, and then all of a sudden, "I haven't updated _Precocious Crush _in HOW long?" My bad. I'll try to get back to that much coveted, rarely attained, twice weekly update schedule._

_Mindy's thought here was my own after reading through the chapters covering last spring and summer._

_Bonus qualifiers and previews after the chapter._

* * *

Today was productive.

Angela and I finally went on that summer shopping trip she'd been wanting for the last few weeks. Got myself a whole new wardrobe. I kinda needed it anyway. I didn't realize it but I was showing a bit of ankle. I must have grown at least an inch since I last bought pants. My boobs grew too. Didn't take the time to actually size me this time though. Angela just looked at me when when we were trying shirts and told me I needed a new bra, so I just picked out a few new ones in the next size up. I think I'm between cups though, these new ones feel a little...I don't know. Not loose..roomy? I dunno. Maybe I just got used to cups that were too small so now these are just...whatever.

Ya know, it just struck me how weird it is to be talking about how my boobs were too big for my old bras when a year ago I didn't even HAVE any.

Anyway. I picked out a bunch of different tops; tube, halter, tank, ya know, whatever didn't cover my stomach or shoulders. I even picked up a bustier, which I'm kind of amazed they had in my size(I don't think I'll be wearing that one except in special circumstances though). I also bought the shortest shorts I could find. Angela suggested a couple miniskirts, but I passed on them. I'm trying to show off my legs not flash my snatch. Didn't do anything special for shoes. Just stuck with my usual sneakers.

When I was standing in front of a mirror in the changing rooms with Angela, trying to decide if I liked this new look, I asked her, "How do I look?"

She smirked at me and said, "Like jail bait."

And I just grinned and said, "Perfect"

But then I started thinking, "I'm just trying to get Dave to notice me. Not every pervert in a twenty yard radius." So I went and found some of those light, billowy shirts Angela likes. I got them two or three sizes too big though, so they cover me up from the back and sides. A couple of my shorts are so short the shirts come down lower than them.

I think they really work well together. If nothing I else it makes me look older. I _feel_ older too. For the first time in my life I can look at myself and think, "How could Dave resist me?"

He probably will though. Even if just on principal. But there's no way he'll be able to see me as "just a child" anymore. I bet I'll be catching him "not looking" a lot. I can't wait for a chance to say, "It's okay for you to look at me, I want you to."

And then he'll probably try to stutter out some stupid excuse or explanation that he wasn't _looking_ at me. And while he's off balance I can back him against a wall or into a chair, and then I can press up against him or straddle his lap and-

Well, okay, let's not get ahead of our selves. Dave's a good guy and I seriously doubt he'd cheat on Riley so even if that did happen it probably wouldn't go much further. If nothing else, kissing him would probably snap him out of his shock and... ugh yeah. If it was the lap scenario I can totally see myself getting dumped on the floor.

But I can still flirt with him. Or tease him. Or just, ya know, do what Alice said and make it clear what I want from him but not push for anything. Gotta push the envelope without crossing a line again. All I can really do is tempt him. Trying to make a move on him will just make him put up more walls.

Oh, I also bought a new swimsuit. A bikini this time. I'm not sure I'm comfortable showing that much skin though, so I might return it and get another one piece. Like I said before, I don't want _every_ guy perving on me, just Dave. Who can see me in as few and as skimpy clothes as he likes.

Not that he'll be asking any time soon.

But that doesn't mean I can't send him a few pictures.

...

Well, maybe not yet. I'd kinda like to see his reaction in person.

...

Marcus is going to have an aneurysm isn't he?

* * *

_**Bonus Qulifiers: **Out of 977 reviews from 209 different reviewers, these 32 earned a peak behind the curtain. If your name is on this list, but you haven't received the bonus yet, PM your e-mail address to me. Remember to write out "at" and "dot" or the site will eat your address._

Jr23

Jogman74

WhiteTigerLilly

JMCracer

DangerousBeauty84

2Wingo

JPElles

Mr. Atrocious

Lee Kyle

Stygian Styx

Rickjames196

TorontoBatFan

Lumias

RobGill

TheLastChronicler

iwntyou2wntme

shugokage

Hickabickaboo

Luan Mao

redheadkim

Aronim

shadowmon

dogbertcarroll

The Dark Eccentric

CarpeNocturn

Marx810

Ibskib

skywisechan

boris-the-red

mckoy12345678910

adm-frb

_Also, just for fun, the most controversial chapter of this bunch was Ch174, receiving, serendipitously, 74, extremely varied, reviews.  
_

_Ch180, unsurprisingly, was the most reviewed, with 84, shocked and heartbroken, reviews._

_**Previews:** This is were I usually like to give you little hints as to what are coming in the future of PC. However, it's getting rather hard to do that at this point without spoiling anything. So, as a little change of pace, I've decided to give you a glimpse at some of those projects I mentioned at the top. All of these lines are copy/pasted directly from their respective files. In other words, they actually exist(though they may be rewritten). Just a matter of time until I finish them._

_Enjoy._

_-o-_

_"_I don't think I've ever seen Mindy this angry. She's not swearing or hitting things. She's gone beyond all that. She's just standing there, staring out the window, silently seething, with the rage just boiling in her eyes, and tears streaming down her face."

_-o-_

"Dave looked down at her; face flushed, small beads of sweat dotting her forehead and slipping down her temples and cheeks, lips parted, and her chest heaving. Their eyes met for a moment, and hers held determination, challenge, a question, and... something else."

-o-

"She sat up and stretched, entwining her arms over her head and arching her back. The sun shown through the thin shirt she wore, silhouetting her body against the flimsy material and making her hair glow. She rose from the bed and walked across the room to the window, pushing the blinds open further and looking out at the day, wondering what it held in store for her."

-o-

"As he turned and started toward his room, he noticed the newspaper on the kitchen table. There was a blurry picture of Hit Girl, with Kick-Ass. His mind went back to that night.

He hadn't seen her since. Of course, he hadn't seen her before that night either. It felt like a lifetime ago, but he could still remembered exactly how her lips felt pressed against his. Softer than he ever would have imagined and leaving the taste of cherry in his mouth.

She'd even smelled amazing. Like leather and metal and sweat and the night. It was what he'd expected her to smell like, but there had been another smell he hadn't been able to place. Something that blended the other smells together and softened them, almost making them feminine."

-o-

"When they pull up in front of his house and he gets off, she misses the feel of his arms around her. She'd swerved extra hard on the turns to make sure he was holding onto her nice and tight.

She tells him she has to leave, and tells him she wants him to stay, that city needs him, but she wants him to ask to come with her. But he doesn't. He says the city needs her, that she's the real hero. She tells him that the only thing he needs to be a real hero is to be brave. She decides that it's now or never and leans in to kiss him. And slip the codes to the safe house into his pocket.

When she leaves the city, she doesn't look back. She doesn't look back because she knows that if she does, she wont be able to leave."


	184. Chapter 184

_**Mako's Message: **True story. I never attended my own graduation._

_Also, I'm sorry I haven't been able to respond to your reviews yet. I just...don't have the time right now. But I will get to them._

* * *

Today was Dave's graduation ceremony.

I didn't wear any of my new clothes to it though, since it's supposed to be, ya know, classy and shit. Or something like it at least. So I wore one of the sundresses Marcus bought me last year.

Marcus didn't come, since he had work and it's not the sort of thing he'd make time for anyway. But Angela did. What was a surprise was that Riley wasn't there. I guess she couldn't get the time off.

She showed up later when we went out to eat though.

It was kind of interesting, since I don't think I've ever spent that much time alone with his Dad.

Angela sat on the other side of me from him. I think she was still embarrassed about meeting him for the first time when she was hungover as fuck.

Anyway, it was the first time I'd ever really talked to him. Any time I've seen him before it was just in passing. Ya know, like, he'd be leaving for work when I was coming to meet Dave for our morning jog, or he'd stick his head in and say hi when Dave and I where hanging out at his place.

But while we were sitting there listening to speeches and watching the class of 2012 walk across the stage(I managed to restrain myself from 'boo'ing when Katie was called up) it was either talk or sit in awkward silence.

He asked me, "So, you going to miss having Dave in school with you?"

I told him, "Yeah. I didn't see him much during school since our schedules didn't match up, but not seeing him much is a pretty big difference from not seeing him at all." And it's not just Dave, Marty and Todd are graduating too. Marty might actually be a bigger gap, since he would eat lunch with us sometimes. Todd...well, we probably won't be seeing any less of Todd since we barely saw him at all in school. And of course I'll see Dave outside of school all the time.

Well, he's moving in with Riley so I probably won't be seeing him as much outside of school as I have been either. I don't even know where she lives yet so I don't know if we'll be able jog together in the mornings either.

Then he surprised me by saying, "I'll miss seeing you around."

And I was like, "Really?"

And he said, "Yeah. It was nice having a female presence in the house again."

I know it's been a long time since they were together, but I still asked, "What about Katie?"

He kinda grimaced and said, "She was nice, or at least I thought she was, but she didn't come over much. Nowhere near as often as you do. Plus his grades started slipping when he started dating her. After he met you though he really pulled himself together. I think you've been a good influence on his life because you've made him try to be a good example for you."

Then he smirked and said, "And of course, knowing there'd be a lady visiting encouraged me to make sure the house was kept in order. After Alice died," and boy did that throw me for a loop, because of course I thought White Mage Alice. I'd ask Dave why he never told me his Mother's name but I have a feeling the answer would be, "You never asked".

Anyway, he said "After Alice died, Dave and I went through kind of a...bachelor period and..." then he shuddered and said, "Let's just say I'm glad we were given a reason to clean up our act. Literally."

Then we stopped and clapped as Marty got his diploma.

Then he said, "It's gonna be real quiet around the house now actually. With Dave gone, Marty and Todd won't be coming around either." And then he...exhaled really slowly, "Those boys have been coming by since they were little kids."

I had another one of those moments then. I wasn't really sure why, but I told him, "I can still drop by in the mornings. No reason to change my jogging route."

He kinda laughed and said, "You can if you want. But I think you'll want to change it. Jogging to Riley's and back to your house shouldn't be much longer than what you do now."

All things considered, I'm kind of ashamed that I couldn't stop myself from smiling at that.

Todd went across and we clapped again. He spotted us and pumped his fists in the air. Angela cheered.

Mr. L stopped talking then, and we sat there for a few minutes in silence, watching more seniors walk by and become graduates. Then I asked something that I was kind of afraid to know the answer to, "Do you like Riley?"

He just nodded his head and said, "Of course. She's a great girl." I didn't say anything in response so he asked, "Do you like her?"

I said, "I wish I didn't."

He smiled and said, "You're jealous."

It's funny how two little words can make your blood run cold.

Angela started paying attention to us then. I only noticed because she stopped looking around at everything else.

Then he said, "You shouldn't be. Riley's not going to replace you or anything. I mean, it feels like every other story Dave tells me starts with 'Mindy and I'. You'll still be his best friend."

It's funny how six little words can hurt so much.

He kept talking, saying, "It's still kinda weird to say that. That my high-school-graduate Son's best friend is a 13-year-old girl. But I can't say I don't get it. You sure are one of a kind."

I almost stopped myself from smiling that time,, but then Angela had to nudge me and grin at me. It was a lost cause after that.

Then they called Dave up and as he walked across the stage we clapped harder than ever, and I whistled at him. He looked over at us and then raised his diploma up in a salute before finishing his walk.

There were only a few more people to be called after Dave, and once they were called, there was this big rush from all the friends and family and the new graduates to find each other and it looked like Mr. L was gonna join them but I was like, "Whoa, fuck that," and stood up on my chair and waved Dave over.

When he came over he looked me over and said, "You...look...nice." like he was trying to be careful about how he complimented me.

So I rolled my eyes and said, "Yeah, and you don't look like an idiot in that thing at all."

And then he rolled his eyes.

We moved further away from the mass of people, like everybody else was trying to except they were blocked in by the people still trying to find each other. Idiots.

Eventually Marty, Todd, and their families joined us. Todd's Mom came over to me and Angela and said, "So you must be Mindy and Angela. I've heard a lot about you from Todd, it's nice to finally meet you."

Then Marty says, "Yeah, Todd loves talking about the little ladies." And then he yelped and almost fell to the ground cussing at us because Dave and I kicked him in the shins at the same time.

Anyway, we all went out to eat and that's when Riley joined us.

She came up while we were eating, said, "Hey everybody!" and kissed Dave on the cheek, "Mindy, Angela, you're both looking nice today." Then she pulled a chair over and Dave and Marty moved aside so she could squeeze and started picking food from Dave's plate.

I couldn't decide on something to say so I just didn't. Angela started talking with her though, so I don't think anyone cared that I wasn't talking to her.

I don't know if it was one of Marty or Todd's parents, but one of them asked Dave what he was going to do now. He gave me a quick glance and said, "Oh, just more of the usual I guess. No reason to change anything yet."

I don't know if he was referring to our relationship or our training/patrol schedule, but I smiled anyway. If nothing else, it means he's not planning to put any distance between us, and the closer I can get to him the better.


	185. Chapter 185

_**Mako's Message: **And here we are, back again with our adorable, psychotic, lovelorn, and hormone riddle Mindy._

_This chapter does what it needs to do, so hopefully you'll all like it. After this I think I'm gonna really try and get things moving again._

_In other news, be sure to Like Makokam Productions on Facebook, where you can get updates, sneak peaks, and a chance to see behind the curtain. There's also fan art, but unfortunately no videos(Damn copyright nazis)._

_You can also see "Riley" without a shirt on.[/SexSells]_

_Enjoy!_

* * *

I don't know what to do with Angela sometimes. I mean, she is my second best friend but she makes me want to bash my own brains in sometimes.

She just cannot seem to get that with The Motherfucker and his Cunts, as well as the increased gang violence(both in frequency and intensity), and a serial killer on the loose, that this is NOT the time for amateurs to be putting on costumes and hitting the streets. Me? I've been training for this since I was FIVE. Dave had me training him for at least three months before the shit hit the fan, and he'd already had a baptism in fire before all of this. And the current members of Justice Forever proved themselves capable by being the only heroes to walk away from the Times Square Brawl.

Angela? She's a cheerleader. An over-excitable and over-enthusiastic cheerleader(which kind of makes her the perfect cheerleader), but still just a cheerleader. There is NO reason for her to step onto this playing field. There have been so few new heroes coming out since all of this compared to before. Before there was a fucking army of heroes. Now I think there are only three heroes on the streets that started after the Brawl and are still here after the Halloween Riots.

I've told her her about every close call I've had; the bullet burn from Chris, that huge amazon bitch, getting caught under the pool table, the minigun, Nathan Bush, getting pinned behind that truck with Biker Knight, the grenade booby trap. And she STILL wants me to train her and go out with us on patrols.

Today for example, we were sitting in Atomic Comics and Angela started trying to get Dave to talk me into training her. She actually said, "C'mon! I could be the Batgirl to your Batman and Robin."

Then Dave said, "Hey, there is no "Batman" or "Robin" here. We're equal partners."

I can't let an opening like that go so I said, "Oh you are totally my Robin. I should make you change your costume to have short shorts and booties."

Then Angela looked Dave over and said, "Ya know, I wouldn't mind seeing that either." I'd like to say I was surprised by that but I really wasn't.

That's when Marty came in, and Dave said, "Marty! Help! They wanna put me in short shorts and booties!"

Marty stood there and blinked then said, "He really doesn't have the legs for that."

So I grinned at him and said, "It's not his legs I'm interested in," while looking at Dave.

Marty's eyes went wide for a moment and he said, "Wow." then sat down beside me, "Being a teenager really agrees with you doesn't it?" Then he looked me over and said, "Like the new outfit."

I said, "Thank you," and then smiled at Dave like, "See? He can admit it."

See, when Dave finally got to see me in my new clothes, he looked me up and down, looked at me like, "Really?" and then covered his face with his hand and asked, "Marcus let you out of the house like that?"

I smirked at him, cocked my hip and said, "Yes" Which is only partially true. The shirts I bought as cover-ups are long enough that if I button them up they look like they could be dresses, so I buttoned the one I was wearing up before leaving the house. Now, if this was really a dress, it'd be really short, so of course Marcus stopped me when he saw me and said, "You are not going out in that."

So I said, "Geez, I'm wearing shorts underneath," and lifted up the edge so he could see, "No need to spaz out about it." And that seemed to calm him down and he let me leave. I decided to keep it buttoned up until just before I met up with Dave though. He is the only intended target after all.

Anyway, I said, "Marty, I need your help. Tell Angela how dangerous it is to be a superhero, she's not listening to me."

Marty blinked and said, "Uh.." then after a minute said, "There isn't really much to tell. I mean...I was fighting beside Dave and everything was chaos. I couldn't tell what was going on for more than five feet in any direction. And..the next thing I remember is waking up in the hospital four months later.

It might have been a mistake to ask that around Dave; he went stone cold and his mind just went somewhere else entirely. But Marty snapped him out of it. After a few seconds of silence Marty said, "So, when are we going to see the new costume, Boy-Toy Wonder?"

Angela cracked up and Dave just gave him this look and said, "Shut up Marty."

It didn't do anything to make her stop asking us though. She even started saying, "Look, you've made the dangers very clear but I still want to do it, so will you plea~~~~se~~ train me?"

Well, I don't care how informed her decision is. She's not a part of this and I'm not going to let her become one.


	186. Chapter 186

_**Mako's Message: **I need to remember that I'm supposed to be updating twice a week, not once every two weeks. C'mon brain, get it together._

_..._

_It's too fucking late for this shit._

* * *

Fucking Katie.

Just fucking Katie.

Dave is too good sometimes. He really is.

She doesn't deserve a damn thing from him, and the only thing I want to give her is a knife between her ribs.

And yet, Dave called me over to his house today (And let me tell you, seeing his room all packed up in boxes was weird and depressing as hell.) because of her.

I didn't know that when he called me though. Things would have gone pretty fucking differently if he'd mentioned it then though.

So I go over there, in my short shorts and tube top with my cover up flowing and feeling sexy as fuck, only to stop dead at the door to his room where everything except a set of sheets on his bed and his computer were packed up. He's sitting at his desk just kinda staring at the computer screen and after a minute of me standing there just trying to wrap my head around the fact that Dave really is moving, he asks me to come over and look at something.

So I walk over and sit down on his lap, and he doesn't say anything about it, just puts an arm over my leg and says, "Watch this," and hits play.

The video he had up ("Super FAIL") is of Katie, in costume, getting the crap kicked out of her of by two guys. She got an occasional good hit in but for the most part she was getting beaten like a tennis ball in a match between the Williams sisters. It looked like something happened to her arm too, or maybe her ribs, since she kept holding one arm to her abdomen.

Eventually the two guys gave it up and ran off, leaving her in the alley to pick herself up and limp off. Just before the video cut off, and I mean by like, one or two frames, it looked like she threw something at whoever was recording the video.

I didn't even try to stop myself from smiling. I can't help it. Seeing Katie suffer just has that effect on me.

Dave wasn't smiling though. I looked at him and said, "What?"

And he said, "That was filmed last night."

He didn't say anything else so I asked, "So?"

And he said, "So she's not stopping."

So I said, "And?" And he just looked at me, dead serious, until I jumped out of his lap and said, "Oh hell no. If you think- No. FUCK no."

"She's going to get hurt out there. Killed maybe."

"She fucking deserves it!"

"We can't just let her get herself killed!"

"Yes we can!"

"Mindy!"

"No! She's a bitch, she could have gotten you killed, she ruined your reputation, and she broke your fucking heart! She's only doing this in some pathetic attempt to get you to take her bitch ass back and she deserves everything that happens to her out there!"

"I'm not asking you to like her! 1 just don't want to see her get beaten to pulp out there. She's a good person. She just...lashed out. I'm not forgiving her, don't even think that, but I still can't let her go out there and get herself killed when I- when WE could do something about it."

"A good person!? She spread it around school that you were a pedophile and molesting me!"

And he just looked at me, looked me right in the eyes, and said, "Please."

I just looked back at him for a minute before I started the video again, "Look at this! She has no talent! You at least had that. You fought three guys to a draw, she got the shit beaten out of her by two."

And he said, "Mindy, I can't feel half of what happens to me. It makes it a hell of a lot easier to get up after getting kicked in the gut. Those guy were also more interested in beating the guy they were after in the first place than keeping me down. And take a closer look at the video. Do you see why she's fighting one handed? She'd holding onto a purse. I bet one of those guys snatched it from some lady and she managed to take it back and was trying to keep them from stealing it again."

I wanted to find some way to argue those points, but before I could come up with anything he kept talking, "And if she's still out there after the beating you gave her she must be serious about it. I know how hard you hit."

I couldn't do much more than stand there, clenching my fists and grinding my teeth until finally I said, "Fine. We can train her. BUT! She has to survive a night out on patrol with me first."

Dave looked back at me for a minute then stuck his hand out and said, "Deal, so long as she doesn't have to survive YOU."

And so I took his hand and said, "Deal."

So. Tomorrow night should be interesting.


	187. Chapter 187

_**Mako's Message: **__Okay, so, this is a few days later than I told a few people it would be up. The reason was because I just didn't like what I had. But then, on Saturday, I had a bit of a breakthrough. But then I had to go to work and I worked in the morning on Sunday and FFN has been broken for the last 30 hours, at least, so that's why it didn't go up up until now.  
That said, I love this chapter. It's also one of the longest ones I've written. Longer than 175, but not as long as 130. So...second longest. I think. Top three at least.  
I'm kinda expecting mixed reviews on this. Don't care though. I had enough fun writing this that if you don't like it makes no difference to me._

_But honestly, a lot of you should love, not like, LOVE this chapter._

_Enjoy._

* * *

Tonight went better than I thought it would. But then, I did try to have fun with it because, as Uncle John likes to says, "Otherwise, what's the point?"

And when else am I going to get a Dave-sanctioned opportunity to throw Katie to the wolves?

Not that I felt this good before hand obviously. I was still super pissed about doing this all day and had a hard time not ranting out loud about it.

So, when it got to be when Dave and I normally head out for our patrol, I put on my suit, threw a jacket and some sweatpants over it and headed for Katie's.

I knocked on the door and stood there hoping she wouldn't answer so I wouldn't have to do this and might even be able to get away with telling Dave she forfeit her chance. But she did. She opened the door in a bathrobe and she looked like the poster girl for domestic abuse. I have no idea how she was explaining the bruises to her parents. I mean, "I fell down some steps" only works so many times.

Anyway, she was surprised and more than a little scared to see me standing there, which improved my mood IMMENSLEY, and then she said, "Uh..M-Mindy. What- uh- are you doing here?"

And I said, "Go get your stupid fucking costume. We're having a girls night out."

She just stood there gaping for at least a full minute before she finally said, "Uh O-okay. I'll...just...five minutes."

When she came down she was wearing this coat that came down to her knees with her costume on underneath. It worked surprisingly well, since if you didn't know what was under the coat the...leggings or whatever they are and the boots actually wouldn't seem odd. She also had a big purse with her that had her helmet in it.

So we went out and cut through this little alley where we took off our cover ups and put on our headgear then put the coats and purse in a garbage bag I'd brought along and shoved behind a dumpster.

Walking down the street in costume with Katie was more amusing than I'd like to admit. Mostly because people know Kick-Ass and I are a team, so seeing me on my own with this unknown caused them to stop and stare and wonder who the fuck this other chick was. I even heard someone start asking his friend if he'd heard anything about Kick-Ass being hurt or us "breaking up". It was cute. I'll have to tell Dave.

I wasn't any happier about going on patrol with her, but I do like messing with people's heads.

So, as we walked threw town, I kept looking for things to do, like, "Help her load her groceries," or, "Get the little boys boy's balloon down from the tree," or, "Help the old lady cross the street"

She asked why I wasn't helping with any of this and I told her, "That's Kick-Ass stuff."

Okay, it's really more "The Gentleman" stuff but until we came across a mugging or something it kept her busy so she didn't start trying to talk to me. And any opportunity to order Katie around is an opportunity worth taking. But I'd gone looking through all our requests for the most dangerous thing I could find so I wasn't worried about not having any fire to throw Katie into.

Not that that ended up being a problem. While Katie was busy helping a kid hold on to a dog that was way too big for him while his Dad was in a store, I saw a guy follow a woman into one of those little alleys.

So, I grabbed the dog by the face, said, "Sit." and it sat and I gave the kid the leash back and got Katie across the street in time to catch the guy before he came back out of the alley with the lady's purse. He started to panic when he saw me, and I think he was about to hand it over on his own, but then I stood back and pushed Katie forward and said, "Well? Get it back."

And suddenly it looked like the guy thought he might have a chance. Like, if he could get past Katie he'd be free.

It was kinda funny. And sad. It almost made me want to take pity on the guy. Almost.

So the guy tries to make a break for it, but Katie snags him by the arm and swings him into the wall. He takes a swing at her, which she ducks, the tries to run again but Katie grabs him by his jacket and yanks him back. He stumbles backward and makes a back handed swipe at her that she blocks then tries to push him back up against the wall.

He elbows her in the gut then turns and punches her in head which did more damage to his hand than her. This gave Katie a second to recover before he tried running again and when he did she just straight tackled the guy. So they ended up wrestling around the ground for a bit, then the guy managed to get on top and then break her grip on him and tried to run again.

But Katie pulled her foot up, put her foot against his head and kick/shoved it against the wall. Made a nice "crack" sound. If she'd managed to make him hit the wall that hard in the first place the fight would have been over a minute earlier.

So the guy was dazed and Katie jumped on him, pinned him face down on the ground, yanked the purse out of his hands, and didn't seem to know what to do from there. So I said, "Cuff him and call it," and tossed some zip cuffs to her. It took her a minute to get them on him but she did eventually get them on him. She pulled them nice and tight too.

Then she said, "Uh, I don't have a phone."

It was almost as hard for me not to smack myself in the face as it was not to smack her.

The one of the people who'd been standing around watching stepped forward, said, "uh...here." and handed her his phone.

And Kaite said, "Uh, thanks," and started to dial the phone.

I sighed and said, "If you're not dialing 911 hang up. Tell them the offense and the nearest intersection."

After she did that I dragged the guy to the intersection and used another set of cuffs to secure him to a street sign and said, "Alright, let's go."

And Katie said, "We're not going to wait?"

So I said, "No, we've got other shit to do."

And she asked, "But what if he escapes?"

And I just grinned and walked over to him, gave him a pat on the face that was almost a slap, and said, "You're not going to do that, are you? No, you're going to be a good boy and wait here," then I grabbed his face, squeezed, pulled his head down to look me in the eye and said, "Because if I catch you again I'm going to do something permanent."

I don't know for a fact that he pissed himself, but going by his expression I'm pretty sure he did.

So we kept walking, and then while we were passing I saw someone I knew. He was standing in an alley behind a restaurant, talking to some guys that looked like they were having a smoke break. I yelled out, "Hey!"

And he looked at me, went wide eyed, said, "Oh SHIT!" and started running.

I caught up to him pretty quick and body checked him into a wall, then pinned him to it. "Hey, long time no see."

He had his hands up, clenching and unclenching his fingers and refusing to look at me, "I didn't do anything I swear!"

I just grinned at him and said, "We both know that's not why we're here."

He grimaced and looked like he wanted to cry, "I don't know anything!"

That's when Katie caught up, so I said, "Oh, please, tell me you've got nothing for me again, because I've got this rookie here," and pointed to Katie, "And she could use a good lesson in interrogation, so tell me you know nothing again, please."

And his face got all scrunched up and started turning red and his fists were clenched and shaking and he practically yelled, "I got nothing new for you!"

So I sighed, rolled my eyes, and drove my fist into his gut, doubling him over and let him cough up his dinner, "You sure about that?"

"I swear," he gasped, "You hit me up only last week. I don't get info that fast."

So I pulled a knife, pulled his head back by the hair, and stuck it up his nose just enough to make a small cut, "Last chance."

"I SWEAR TO YOU!"

That made me smile. Because the last time we did this, and he didn't cough something up in first few seconds, he said, "I swear to god" and I got to yell, "Swear to me!" It's nice when people remember things like that.

So I cuffed him, threw him against a wall, and pretended to make a call to the police. Then I whispered to him, "Have something for me next time or I wont fake the call, and you wont get a chance to run away."

He just lay there on the ground playing dead except for a quick nod and then Katie and I were on our way.

Not much later I decided it was time to stop the general patrol and get to the good stuff. The stuff that would make, break, or possibly kill Katie.

It was about a half mile to where we were going, and it ended up being pretty quite. Couldn't even find any civilians needing help with anything. Not even a door I could make her open for someone. So she started trying to talk to me again.

Of course she wanted to know why I'd taken her out here. If something had happened to Dave. I think she also wanted to ask if I was going to kill her, but thought she was being paranoid.

I didn't answer her. I didn't feel like telling her Dave wanted me to train her or anything even close to to the truth because then she'd just start asking me MORE stuff. And I was going to tell her if she survived the night anyway so it didn't matter.

When we got to where we were going, or in the building at least, she finally asked something I could answer, "What are we doing here?"

"We got a few requests saying that there was a guy dealing drugs out this apartment. Pretty seriously if they're to be believed. Probably even a supplier for smaller dealers.

Then she asked, "Why haven't the cops done anything yet?"

I didn't know whether to slap her or myself. "Because if these guys have anything to do with The Motherfucker then the cops are being either paid off or blackmailed into leaving them alone, and if they aren't they probably have protection from someone because the NYPD is corrupt as shit and whoever they DO work for bought protection."

Then she saays, "But, isn't you-" and I whipped her around, covering her mouth and slamming her into a wall before she could finish even THINKING that comment.

I said, "Yes. Who do you think told me?"

Her eyes went wide and she said, "He told you?"

I let her go and said, "Well, not exactly, but he talks to himself when he gets upset, and I listen to his phone calls when I can. The point is that out side of street crime and violent crime, like murders and rapes, the cops can't really do anything. So things like this? Anything connected to anything resembling organized crime, they're either paid not to touch or too scared to."

She was silent for a bit before asking, "Are you sure they're dealers?"

"No. They could be thieves and instead of selling drugs they're selling, or just passing around, stolen phones or other electronics. Or they could just be a bunch of ghetto, rap blasting, douchbags."

"So...how will we know?"

"By how they react to us." And I turned to the door, banged on it and yelled, "Girl Scouts!"

There was some muffled voices, then footsteps, someone put their hand on the door, looked through a slot in the door, yelled, "OH SHIT!" shut it, and then there was a bunch of yelling other noise from inside.

I shrugged, said, "And they're guilty," and kicked the door in.

There were a bunch of guys throwing stuff in bags in the middle of the room, and some running towards the back. One turned and threw a punch at me. I deflected it and hit him with a leaping, 360, double fan kick.

I like to start with something flashy since it tends to break morale and if I don't open with it things might get too clusterfucky for me to do it later.

Anyway, so the guy went down hard as I basically slammed his head to the ground with my foot, then I pulled my nunchucks(Which I've been using a lot since that girl broke my swords and I don't have anything else suitably bloodless), smiled and said, "Guess you don't want any cookies then," and started cracking skulls.

It was weird not working with Dave, or anybody else really. I haven't done that in awhile. And Katie doesn't count because she didn't do much more than plaster herself to a wall.

It was also kinda exhilarating. Just me against a room full of thugs.

It was harder than it'd been before though, since I wasn't cutting them down it was easier for them to get back up since I didn't have time to put one down for good, without killing him, since there was always someone else requiring my immediate attention.

Of course, I'm also bigger, stronger, and faster than I was the last time I did this on my own so it wasn't TOO much harder. Especially since Dave had talked me into leaving people alive. Beaten and broken, but alive.

One of them tried to climb out a window with a bag of dope and money, but since I couldn't get to him before he was out the window, and if I chased him out the window that'd leave Katie alone with the rest of them and even though some of them bad broken limbs and at least once of them was concussed Katie wouldn't be able to stop them from getting away, so I threw a couple knives into his back.

One of the guys pulled a sword on me. Not a kitchen knife, not a machete, but an actual fucking sword. It was so cool! So the nunchucks went back into their holster and the butterfly sword came off my back. I let hm take a swing, and then another swing at me, each time I "just barely" deflected it, the on the third one, which he swung at me like he was trying to crush me with it instead of cut me, I knocked it wide then jabbed him in the shoulder with the opposite end.

He screamed then tried another swipe, and I did the same thing with his other shoulder.

He dropped his sword then, and everybody who'd backed up to avoid getting hit by the dumbass from the "the pointy end goes in the other man" school of swordplay decided to try and rush me. A twirl and spin with the butterfly sword made them back the fuck up real quick and I finished it with kick to the chest of the guy with the sword, who went backwards, fell over the couch, and put his head through the plaster.

When I spun my sword around to get a little breathing room, one of the guys seemed to finally notice Katie was standing there and went after with a knife.

Katie managed to push the guys arm to the side so the knife went into the wall, then kneed him in the balls.

If it had been anyone else I'd have been proud of them. But since it was Katie I was annoyed because it meant I might actually end up having to train the bitch.

And then, to make it worse, when there was only one guy left, and he was trying to figure out which way to run and I was about to knock him the fuck out, Katie hits him over the head with a lamp.

If there was ever a time for her to be a worthless bitch this would have been it. But no, she just had to go and try to be helpful.

Then she looks around the room and says, "Wow. You- you're amazing."

And I almost smiled at the compliment, but then I was like, "No! This is KATIE! We do not accept compliments from her!"

So I said, "Shut up and gather up the cash."

And Katie was like, "We're going to take the money?"

And I just looked her like, "Of course we're going to take the money you stupid cunt", but what I SAID was, "Of course we're going to take the money. You think our equipment comes cheap?"

And she said, "I just thougt-"

And I said, "You thought what? That Kick-Ass's job was keeping Hit Mobile sheltered and fueled up? Or that we don't need to repair our suits? Or that we have fucking cosmo guns that never run out of ammo?"

And she stood there for a second then said, "I'll get a bag."

So Katie grabbed one of the bags the dealers were suing and dumped it out while I started cuffing everybody. The guy who'd tried to go out the window groaned when I pulled him back in and I said, "Oh stop being such a pussy, you'll live." and pulled the knives out of him and cleaned them off on his shirt.

Then I went through the apartment checking for hidey-holes. If I found money I took it, but if it was drugs or anything that was probably stolen I just left it there for the cops to find. Once I was done with that I dialed 911 again to report multiple serious injuries and gave them the address.

She asked why I didn't mention the drugs, and I said, "Because the cops will get here faster if they don't know it's something they're being told to ignore."

Then I threw the backpack over my shoulder and we headed out.

A couple blocks later we spotted a hot dog vender. I gave Katie a twenty and told her to go get us some food and then to meet me on one of the rooftops.

I was waiting up there for awhile. Long enough that I was starting to think she wouldn't be able to make it. I was really hoping she wouldn't. But she did make it up there.

As she came across the roof she said, "Grabbing the fire escape is really hard when you're carrying food," then handed me my hot dog and a bag of chips.

I said, "Dave does it all the time."

"Really?"

"Yes."

Then she started to ask, "Why did you-"

And I interrupted with, "Katie, shut the fuck up. If I have to listen to your voice while I eat I might vomit."

So we sat there and ate in silence.

When we'd both finished I stood up and started walking back towards the fire escape, but stopped and turned around when Katie started to follow me. I looked up at her and said, "You know I hate you, right?"

Even though I couldn't see her face, I could tell she'd suddenly gotten very nervous and she said, "Yes."

I said, "Good. I just want to make sure we were clear that I hate you. In fact, I'm pretty sure I hate you more than any other person in this city hates you. There is only one person in this city that you should be more afraid of being alone on a rooftop with than me, and that's only because he'd enjoy killing you just because of the costume you're wearing."

That's when she started backing up and said, "Mi- Hit Girl..."

Then I lunged forward, grabbed her by the front of her costume and pushed her off the roof. Well, held her off over the edge, really. She screamed at first, but got herself under control pretty quickly once she realized I was holding on to her.

She started to say something but I told her to shut up.

"I would love to hear you scream as you fall. I'd record it and listen to it as I fall asleep. There's another person in this city that would love it almost as much as I would. Do you know who it is?"

She didn't answer immediately so I shook her and yelled, "DO YOU?!"

And she yelled, "The Motherfucker!"

And I said, "That's right. He doesn't know you, he doesn't care who you are, but if him or any of his gang catch you they'll kill you anyway."

And she cried, "I know! I know."

And I said, "Good." and let her go.

I really wish she hadn't put her helmet back on after she finished eating. I would have loved to have seen the expression on her face.

Unfortunately she didn't start screaming before I grabbed her by her belt.

I think she might have been on the verge of tears though. I thought I could hear sobbing but that may have just been wishful thinking.

I asked her, "Are you scared?"

She nodded. Which was kinda weird seeing as she was almost upside down.

I asked her, "Are you ready to face this every night? Are you ready to face down death?! Because that's what being a hero in this town means!" I paused for a minute then asked, "Still want to be a hero?"

And she said, "Yes."

And I said, "Fuck." and pulled her back onto the roof. Then while she was collapsed on the roof and trying to stop hyperventaliting I kicked the roof and yelled, "FUCK!" again. Because, really, what else could I do? Whether she was still doing this to win Dave back or not she was sticking to her guns and unless I wanted Dave to think I killed her, and no matter how plausible a story I told him he'd always wonder, there was no way I could get away from the fact that the bitch passed my test.

So I sighed and asked her, "What the fuck are you calling yourself anyway?"

It took her a minute to get it together enough to answer. And ya know what she said? "Heartbreaker"

I rounded on her and yelled, "ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME!?" I almost threw her off the roof for real.

She squirmed and said, "I like it."

I said, "Well you need a fucking new one."

Heartbreaker. Fucking hell.

So I sent a text to Uncle John saying we were heading over and Katie and I went back down to ground level and started walking.

We stopped a mugging on the way. A guy was holding a knife to another guy's neck while he went through his pockets. Katie saw them first since she was walking ahead of me and yelled out. The mugger looked over at us and then dropped his knife and ran. I doubt he recognized or cared who Katie was, but I'm fairly recognizable even in bad light.

It's almost enough to make me want to make a new costume so people will stop running from me, except I do kinda like watching people see me and shit their pants.

The guy had too much of a lead on us and was gone before we go to the other end of the alley.

We got to headquarters without any other incidents, but when we got there White Mage was coming down the alley. I told Katie to wait by the elevator and ran down to talk with her.

First thing I asked was, "Is something going on?"

And she said, "Not with me. Stars told me about this and I wanted to come and tell you were doing a good thing." Then she looked over me at Katie and said, "I also wanted to see this bitch for myself."

I love her.

So we walked back to the elevator, rode it down, and when the doors opened all the lights were off, and the place lit by a few candles. Went into the main room, and Col. Stars was standing in the center of the room and told Katie to "Approach"

So she walked up and he made her hold a lit candle and swear an oath to truth and justice. I noticed he put a little more emphasis on "Truth" than "Justice", but otherwise it was ripped straight out of the comic.

So, once she was done with her oath and he'd acknowledged her a member of Justice Forever, she came over and tried to thank me.

I stopped her and said, "Don't thank me. I meant what I said on the roof. I only did this because Dave didn't want to see you get your dumb ass killed out there."

So of course Alice asked, "What did you say on the roof?"

I looked at her and said, "That the sound of her screams could lull me to sleep," and then smiled sweetly at Katie, who looked like she wasn't sure if I was going to try to kill her after all or not.

Alice just said, "I can believe that actually."

Then we went straight back, instead of winding through the city so we got back to were we left our jackets in a little less than quarter of the time it took us to walk out in the first place. While we were putting out jackets on I told her I'd contact her about where and when her training was going to start.

She seemed surprised by that. I guess she figured that getting on the team was a far as this was going to go.

Then I went one way and she went the other and I called Dave to tell him Katie lived and that I'd start training her as soon as I found a place to do it. The safehouse is our special place and I want to keep it that way.

I'm not happy about this, but I keep my word.

And it was kinda fun getting to order Katie around and dangle her off a roof.

I also get to beat the crap out of her in the name of training, so I'll probably end up enjoying this after all.

* * *

_**More Message:**__Over the holidays _Magic Carpet Ride _by Steppenwolf came up on my Pandora a couple times. Kept making me think of this chapter. _


	188. Chapter 188

I FUCKING KNEW IT! I KNEW THAT SONOFABITCH WAS GOING TO BE TROUBLE! I FUCKING KNEW IT! I'M GONNA STRANGLE HIM WITH HIS OWN GODAMN DICK AND HANG HIM UP BY HIS SACK!

* * *

_**Mako's Message:** If there was a way to simulate tearing paper with your pen in this medium, I can assure you I would have used it._


	189. Chapter 189

_**Mako's Message: **So, a month or two back, I decided to put all the individual PC chapter files into one file, just for shits and giggles. I took a break at chapter 60 then stopped again at Chapter 120, at which point I realized that there was a significant event every 60th chapter. If you noticed that before and thought I did it on purpose I'm sorry to disappoint you. What this does mean, however, is that I'm going to attempt to keep this trend with the final two significant events. meaning I'm aiming to end this at Ch300. I don't know if that'll be hard to squeeze into or hard to reach, but we'll just see what happens._

_In the mean time, Mindy needs to vent. Enjoy!_

* * *

This has been a really bad week.

First, Dave officially moved in with Riley. I even helped him carry all his junk. The only bright side to all of that is that he didn't actually move into Riley's room. I don't know if he's just keeping his stuff in the other room or what but...he has his own room. So, that's something at least.

There's also a fire escape right outside his bedroom window. It'll make sneaking in almost too easy. I just hope I wont end up regretting it the first time I do.

Then, the same goddamn day, we get a call from John saying that Biker Knight came to him with some big news. That he found out about a drug shipment coming in, and where one of the distribution points was going to be, and he was going to need all of Justice Forever's help because of how heavy the guard on it was going to be.

I thought this was going to be fun at first, because after Biker Knight mapped out what the guy he interrogated told him about the security, I figured we'd need to be a little more creative. So I suggest Dave and I get on the roof of the building, then rappel down the side and come in through the windows. Dave was being a pussy about it, and I told him that. I mean, sure, it's the first time we've ever done something like this, but it's not like I never showed him how to use the rapid descent cables.

I suppose I could have spent a little more time on it though, expecting Dave to be able to go from lesson one to going down a building and bursting in through a window might have been a little much..

Nothing like a little dynamic entry to get a party started though, and you can never go wrong with shock-and-awe tactics.

So everything was going according to plan, Dave and I got onto the roof without any problems, the rest of Justice Forever and Biker Knight got to the door without any problems, Dave even managed to bust through the window without hurting himself(cause with him you never know), and we scared the shit out of the guys and it all would have been awesome.

Except that fucker in black was there, guarding the door to the room with the drugs. I saw him, just before we came through the window, just leaning against the wall like he was bored. But by the time we were through the window and on our feet he had his sword drawn and ready to go with the shit eating, toothy grin on his face. I went after him first, while the rest of the team took down the other guards. But I just could not get through this asshole's guard. Dave came over to help but it didn't do any fucking good. Even when Biker Knight joined the fight he managed to hold us off long enough for the guys in the drug room to take the drugs and bail.

They banged on the door and yelled, "We're clear!" and then this guy did this spin attack where he lashed out at us with his sword, it's sheath, and both legs. I wish I'd thought to cut off one of his damn legs instead of jumping back, but I didn't and I did, so the guy had some space and he just burst right through the door and leapt straight out the window.

I ran after him and saw him kneeling on the roof of a van as it drove off, waving at us.

I wanted to go after them but Dave pulled me back in the window saying they were already gone.

So, that night was just a complete failure.

So I was in bad mood the entire time I was trying to find a new place to use as a training center, since I didn't want Katie coming to our safehouse. I want to keep it a special place for me and Dave if nothing else. And I also figured I'd train Angela as well, on the condition that she didn't try to go out on the streets or put on a costume without my permission(which she's never going to get), so it wouldn't look like I was doing something special for Katie. Then I figured if I'm doing this, why not open it up to the rest of Justice Forever? It wouldn't be a REAL safe house. Not one of mine at least. But the team could use it. Ya never know when it could come in handy.

And that's just been going oh SO _fucking _well. Because trying to find an apartment, or studio, or just any kind of property with the kinda of space I'd need, that I could renovate the way I need to, is a HUGE PAIN IN THE ASS.

It's also going to put a huge dent in my nest egg, a few hundred thousand at least, but if I find the right place, and get it set up the way I want it, it'll be worth it.

But first I have to find a place first, and without Daddy to do all the talking I've had to get Dave to play the role and aside from the research part of this I'm in completely new territory. I was never in charge of making the purchases or talking to people. I'd just FIND things. Daddy took care of the rest. And I can't ask Marcus.

Maybe Uncle John could help...

Anyway, apparently I was snapping at people even more than usual and just generally being mean that Angela, Marcus, and Dave all commented on it.

At least Dave suggested we take a night off and go see a movie. With friends. He even said that specifically so I wouldn't think it was a date. Bastard ruining all my fun.

I invited Angela but she said she couldn't come because she said she had another one of her "dates" that night, but Marty and Todd came.

I decided to put on one of my nicer, sexy outfits for the occasion too. Which...didn't quite work out how I wanted.

When we got there and where waiting to get Popcorn Marty said, "Hey Mindy, it's pretty cold in here isn't it?"

And I was about to say something about stating the obvious when I realized what he was smirking at.

My nipples were poking through my top.

So I flipped him off, said, "Eyes up here, asshole, they're not for you. Dave can look all he wants though."

And Marty just laughed and said to Dave, "Damn, she really doesn't give a fuck anymore does she?"

Dave just rubbed at his eyes and said, "You really shouldn't be dressing like that Mindy. Not when we're out like this. You're gonna get the wrong kind of attention and people are going to start talking," and made sure not to look at me below eye level for the rest of the night.

So, yeah, that sucked.

THEN! We ran into Angela on her date. Who she proudly displayed for us. And I couldn't believe my fucking eyes.

It was Jessi's old douche-friend. Handsy McGrabbass.

I pulled her aside and asked her, "What the fuck are you doing with him?!"

And she said, "What does it look like? I'm getting laid! " then she looked at him like she was gonna eat him and said, "I can't wait to get him home and out of those clothes. Mm-mm." Then she stopped and said, "Actually, we'll probably have to go to his place, I'm not sure how late Mom and Dad are going to be out.

And I wanted to beat my head against a fucking pole.

So Handsy comes over and says, "Hey, Angela, our movie is about to start." and starts to walk off with Angela, then he looks back at me and says, "Oh, and uh- Nice to see you again...Mandy, right? Love the outfit."

And I pulled my cover-up shirt closed around me as I watched them walk away, with Angela's hand on HIS ass, trying to restrain myself from ripping his throat out.

So, after that I couldn't enjoy what was supposed to be a fun, relaxing, night at the movies with Dave, and friends, because now I was worried that Angela had gone from being an...empowered girl enjoying her sexuality, to just a run of the mill slut.

And, to top it all off, Marcus was happy to inform me that they caught the guy who'd been cutting out people's hearts today. He's sitting in lock-up right now. So I won't even get the pleasure of hunting him down.

The only bit of brightness to all this is that I finally found someone to make a replacement for the staff the brainwashed-and-crazy girl broke. Even improved my design a bit.

Except he said it'd cost a thousand dollars more than what I was looking to spend.

So yeah. Fuck this shit.

* * *

_**Mako's Post Script:** __Don't forget to like _Makokam Productions_ on Facebook._


	190. Chapter 190

_**Mako's Message: **...sometimes a chapter just has to go out because it has to go out. This is one of those times._

_Mindy's right, by the way, but she doesn't know the half of it._

* * *

Okay, seriously. I am a 13-year-old superhero. How the fuck did I end up with a desk covered in paperwork? It took me like, two minutes or something just to find my damn diary. Journal. Whatever.

Anyway, so Cameron came by today. Which was a surprise, but shouldn't have been once I thought about it. She didn't come in though, which wasn't surprising either because her brother was in the car and kept honking. It was one of the few times I've seen her snap. She usually so cool and collected that seeing her suddenly whirl around in mid-sentence and yell, "I'll be there in a minute John!" had me holding back laughter until she left.

So, she came by to tell me she was naming me Captain of the cheerleading team. I wasn't exactly thrilled to get the title, but I know how serious she is about this so when she said that, despite me only being on the team for one year, I was the only person she trusted to keep the team on track for a championship I couldn't say no.

And then she made me wish I'd said no.

She handed me a stack of papers and said, "These are the sign up sheets and member lists." Then she gave me another stack, "These are the medical forms for the team," Then another, "These are the routines. Most you'll recognize but there are some new ones I didn't finish. They'll be a good place to start." Then another, "These are the permission forms for there to BE a team next year." Another stack, "These are the permission forms the people to be ON the team. All the previous members will have to fill them out again so don't forget." Another stack, "These are the evaluation forms. You'll need at least five new members next year, even if you just pull up some people from the B team to fill the gaps left by the graduating Seniors. And any other gaps left by the people who quit when they find out you're Captain.

I said "Wait. What makes you think people will quit?" and she just looked at me with this smirk on her face for a minute and then I said, "Okay yeah, people are probably gonna quit."

Then she smiled at me, as I was weighed down by about five thousand pounds of paper, and said, "It was great working with you Mindy. Good luck." and ran back to the car and her brother peeled out almost before she had the door shut.

So, I took all that upstairs and started looking through it all, trying to figure out what I had to do with all of it and when I had to do it by.

Then Marcus comes in and drops this big ass box of files onto my desk. And says, "Maybe you and your friends will have better luck with this because I'm about ready to just say 'fuck it' and throw it all out."

So I'm sitting there looking back and forth from this big ass box to Marcus going, "What the hell?" Cause Marcus NEVER outright asks for help with any Police cases. Sure, he mentions things every once and awhile, like some place where they know something is going down but don't have any proof, or he might let us help him with something if I beg and promise to do extra chores or something.

So then he explains that just when they thought they had this all wrapped up, and were starting to dig up more murders and missing cases that could be tied to this guy who'd been cutting out people's hearts... they found him dead in his cell this morning. With his throat torn out, a smile on his face, and nothing on the cameras. And no one who was there that night says they saw anything.

Not sure what to make of that, but it looks like my summer just got a lot more interesting.


	191. Chapter 191

_**Mako's Message: **I really want to apologize for the delay on this one. I was struggling with some other projects, but once I realized just how long it'd been since the last update this went right to the top of the pile._

_More after the chapter._

* * *

Waking up in the hospital sucks.

Waking up somewhere unexpected is bad enough, but when it's a hospital, you're wondering, "Oh fuck. What happened?" and you're most likely in pain or too doped up to remember anything.

So waking up in a hospital bed was unpleasant. It was nice to see Dave watching over me though. Except for when it clicked that he was in costume, and crouched on a chair, in a corner, facing the door with his batons out.

That almost made me panic. Well, at least until I realized my mask was on. I don't know how he convinced them to leave the mask and wig on, but thank god he did. The last thing I'd need after what happened is for my identity to be blown.

I don't really even remember what happened. I have bits and pieces of it. Like, I know I was out on patrol with Dave, and then this big guy tackled Dave, and two other guys grabbed me and carried me off and threw me in a van. After that I remember being tied to a chair and Chris taunting me, talking about how happy he was that I could make it, and that he had all sorts of fun activities for us to do. And how, actually, he was the only one who was going to be having fun.

Then I remember waking up on a couch in a...I dunno. A big box or tank or something. It was more like a tank, I guess, because it was see through on all sides, and it was about the size of a small living room. And it had a rug, a coffee table, a side table with a lamp, a chair, and the couch I was laying on.

Chris was sitting on the other side of the glass on his own couch with this big ass bowl of popcorn and a video camera. He looked at me and said, "What? I thought it'd be fun to watch. And I'll want to watch this over and over again." and he started laughing.

I had all my weapons on me, so I pulled a gun and tried to shoot him, which just made him laugh harder. He said, "You stupid bitch! Do you really think you'd have your guns if you could shoot through that?"

I shot it a couple more times just to be sure, then I started hitting it with stuff. My butterfly sword, knives, the furniture. The only thing I didn't try was my grenade, and that was because even if it broke the glass I didn't think the couch would be enough to protect me from the blast.

After that...I really don't remember much of anything. I remember gunfire at some point, and I thought I saw my Daddy but obviously I was dreaming, then Hospital. I woke up with an oxygen mask on my face, some monitors on my wrists and fingers, and my suit top had been unzipped, but otherwise I was still in full costume.

Dave was crouched in a chair next to me still in full combat mode, ready to kick the shit out of anyone who came into the room. He only relaxed a little when he saw I was awake. Okay, well, he relaxed a lot when I spoke to him, but it was more of a "Oh thank god you're alive" relaxing than relaxing his guard. He actually looked more serious after. Guess without worrying if I was gonna wake up or not, he was focused entirely on protecting me.

Normally, I wouldn't like the idea that anyone thought I needed to be protected, let alone stand guard over me, but aside from the fact that I still felt weak as shit and my chest hurt like hell whenever I tried to breathe, I liked seeing Dave all serious and being protective of me. I guess it's that little girl part of me that still likes the idea of the big strong man keeping me safe.

That and I just like seeing how much Dave cares about me.

Wish he'd let me thank him properly.

I wasn't in the hospital long. Dave called in a nurse after I woke up and she double checked my breathing, heart rate, basic vitals crap, and said that it looked like I was on the "up and up", and that a doctor would be in soon to give the final prognosis.

Before the doc showed up, Col. Stars, White Mage, and Dr. Gravity came in.

Then Dave REALLY relaxed. It was almost like he was a puppet and his strings were cut. He actually fell back into the chair and all the air rushed out of him in this big whoosh and he said, "I thought you guys were never gonna show up."

"Hey," Dr. Gravity said, "We don't all have our own super cars ya know. We had to meet up with the Colonel first so he could drive us here in the van.

He got up and pulled Dr. G and Stars into a hug while Alice came over to check on me. She said, "So you're mortal after all."

I said, "Ha ha" and even I was bothered by how weak it sounded. She checked my pulse and put her ear to my chest, which was kinda awkward but under the circumstances I didn't really object. And if I had, I don't think I could have stopped her at the time.

When she picked her head up she smiled at me and said, "I think you'll be okay. You just need to recover."

I smirked and crocked out, "Thanks Doc."

She smiled and said, "See? You're getting better already."

Meanwhile, Col. Stars was trying to get Dave to get himself checked over since he was here.

Dave didn't want to leave, but Dr. G and Stars convinced him. And by "convinced him" I mean Dr. Gravity dragged him over to the door and yelled, "Hey! Can I get someone to give my boy here a look over?"

Dave was still stuttering out objections and Uncle John said, "Don't worry, nothin's gonna happen to her with the three of us here."

An overly eager nurse came over and led Dave off somewhere, and I must have actually said "whore" out loud because Alice just chuckled and said, "Even if she threw herself at him I don't think he'd take what she'd be offering."

Nobody said anything so hopefully when I thought, "Wish he'd take what I'm offering," I was _only_ thinking it.

When the Doctor finally came in, he read through what I guess were the notes on me then gave me a more thorough exam, making me sit up so he could listen to me breathe front and back, which actually hurt. He checked my eyes too and then examined a burn on my neck I didn't even notice until he pulled the bandage away. He said I seemed to be recovering nicely so far, and that, "Under normal circumstances we'd want to keep you for a day just to make sure there are no complications, but I think, considering the risk to yourself and, no offense, the other patients and staff, that you should be discharged as soon as possible. Provided you have someplace where you can rest safely for at least the next twenty four hours."

He looks at me and I nod, then around the room and John and Alice nod as well, "Excellent. Well, as soon as she's ready to leave she'll be able to. I'll send a nurse in with the treatment papers. She can provide you with a wheelchair if you want it."

After he left, Alice held out a hand and said, "Can you stand?"

I said, "Of course I can stand" and swung my legs over the side to stand up, only to be hit by wave of dizziness and my legs giving out on me.

"Of course you can stand," Alice said back to me, as she caught me and helped me back on the bed.

Ya know, the number of people who I let get away with sassing me without getting hit is getting bigger than I'd like.

Anyway, I really didn't want to be seen leaving the hospital in a wheelchair. Hit Girl can NOT be allowed be seen as vulnerable. However many people knew about me being in the hospital in the first place was too many. I decided maybe we should wait a bit before I left. At the very least I wanted to wait for Dave to come back, and if I had to leave in a wheelchair we'd need some time to come up with a way to disguise me.

Obviously taking my costume off was not an option. Too many people in the hospital knew Hit Girl was in that room, and even a vague description of what I look like without the mask and wig was too detailed.

When Dave came back without more than a couple bandages on his arms and a bottle of painkillers they asked him for suggestions. The first thing he said was, "Hit Girl can't leave here in a wheelchair. She can't be seen as weak."

I like how we can be totally on the same wavelength.

Then he asked me to try standing again, and I was kinda able to, but I was really wobbly. He asked White Mage if an adrenalin shot would help, even if it was just long enough to get her to the van.

She thought about it for a bit then said, "Maybe. It's not something you should do lightly though."

"If it'll let her walk out of here on her own it'll be worth it."

Then she looked at me and said, "Are you sure you can't just let us wheel you out of here?"

I just looked right back at her and shook my head, "I can't look weak. Not in costume."

She sighed and said, "I think this is unnecessary but fine. I'll see what I can do."

A nurse came in to hand me all those papers they give you saying just what they treated you for, how they treated you, and all that other crap. I noticed they had me listed as "Jane Doe" so that's something at least. What also did me in was carbon monoxide poisoning. So, I guess that was Chris's plan. Gas me to death and watch me suffer.

She also gave me a portable oxygen tank, and said that once I was somewhere safe I should keep an oxygen mask on as much as possible for the next day, which was how long the tank should last. After it ran out she said I should probably be able to get another tank anywhere that sold diving equipment and that I should use it if I ever felt short of breath for the next week.

White Mage followed her out, and while we waited I figured I might as well put the mask back on until we were ready to leave. Even if I was on my way to a full recovery and the doctors weren't yelling at me to put the mask back on I still wanted this out of my system as fast as possible. I've actually gotten so used to it that I'll forget about the damn thing until I do something to remind me. Like, walk away without the tank. Or just twist or reach and get my arm caught in the tube.

Alice came back with a small bottle and syringe and gave me a shot that perked me right the hell up and suddenly I couldn't sit still. I hopped off the bed and I felt a little dizzy but it didn't really matter. I was ready to go go go.

Having that stuff shot into you instead of working yourself up to it is WEIRD.

So I zipped up my top, and Dave and Dr. Gravity got on either side of me, ready to catch me if I started to fall, Col. Stars lead us out, and White Mage brought up the rear carrying the tank.

Being in the van sucked because I kept swinging from being woozy as fuck to bouncing off the damn walls.

It wore off by the time we got to Headquarters where I spent an hour or so recovering and getting some food in me. It was way past when we'd normally be out until and over seven hours since I'd eaten so I was starving. Dave took the time to go get his Dad's car and a change of clothes for me.

Marcus was waiting up for me because of course he heard that I'd been captured. He hugged me hard enough to hurt even if my chest wasn't sore. I asked if I could just go to bed and we could talk about it in the morning.

He said, "Of course. Of course you need your rest."

When I went up the stairs though, I could hear him and Dave talking. I didn't bother listening since I had a good idea what they were talking about and after the night I'd had I really wanted to get to sleep.

When I woke up it was afternoon, and there was a box on my desk with a note from Marcus, "Came to check on you during lunch but you were still asleep and I didn't want to wake you. Brought you soup from that deli you like. It's in the fridge when you want it. Otherwise please stay in bed."

The box was a set of really sweet headphones. They're white, black, and pink and they have the best sound of any headphones I've ever owned. Not that that's hard since I only got the cheap ones before. They also have a mic so I can use them to talk on the phone.

That was all probably part of Marcus's devious plan to keep me in bed.

I plugged them into my phone and spent the rest of the afternoon sitting in bed with my laptop, listening to Pandora, looking into the murder cases connected to the guy who'd been killing people and stealing their hearts and the disappearances they were trying to connect him to as well, and also trying to find a place to set up my new training center. I think I've got a couple places that'll work. I'll just have to arrange to go see them now.

Maybe Dave or Uncle John could go and take pictures so I don't have to go in person. It'd be nice to be able to split it up. It'd save a lot of time.

* * *

_**Mako Reccomends****: **I like a good fanfic. And I like the fanfics I like to do well. So, I'm going to list some fics that I don't think are getting the attention they deserve. Some are new so you may have just not seen them yet. Others are older so you may have missed them. Some just need a little love. They're all good. _

A Fledgling Chance by KrRcksMySx: _The only "Big Daddy lives" fic I've seen. Takes place days after the first film's climax._

No One Takes Out Hit Girl But Hit Girl by Carathay: _New champion for "Most Awkward Title". Hit Girl has an accident and ends up with Dave taking care of her, much to her displeasure. Follows the second film. _

Just A Thought by The Fallen Sky: _Mindy finds herself thinking about Dave more and more often. Set during the second film._

Trip Like I Do by Marx810: _An expansion/spin-off of _Toxic_, which is a spin off of this fic from Ch51_

The Secrets We Keep by KrRcksMySx: _When she leaves New York at the end of the second film, Mindy hides with Marcus's family in Texas. And learns rodeo._

Damaged by Marx810:_ Dave and Mindy are reunited after several years almost by chance. Turns out, they both have a lot of issues. But maybe they can put each other back together again. Comic-verse._

When The Addiction Kicks In You'd Better Run by MaybeItsTheVodka: _Previous holder of the "Most Awkward Title" award. A Chrave fic. WAIT. Before you write it off, consider that fact that **I**, of all people, am recommending it._

_Everything else I considered recomending is either popular enough on it's own, dead/dying/comatose, or just not quite good enough for me push. Have to be careful or my recommendation won't be worth much after all, even if I'm enjoying it myself._


	192. Chapter 192

_**Mako's Message: **Okay, so, I just kinda wrote this and I just kinda went with it and didn't plan much of this out and it just happened so..._

_Here is a chapter!_

_Hope you like it. I'm gonna be trying to get ALL my fics regularly updated from now on. and by "Regularly" I mean "No more than two months between updates" (I have a lot of ongoing fics) so, here's hoping._

* * *

Dave.

Dave Dave Dave Dave Dave.

What am I going to do with you?

I mean, I know what I'd LIKE to do with you, but you wont let me.

And then you go and do something stupid and make me wanna strangle you. Seriously. How could you just-

Well, I guess it was only a matter of time. He couldn't have kept Riley from knowing forever unless he broke up with her, and seeing as how they just moved in together I'm sure that's not gonna happen any time soon.

Why can't he just be my boyfriend? That'd make life so much simpler. No one else would find out our secret, he wouldn't have to spend so much time away from me, and we'd get to have sex after our patrols. It's all win!

At least I get days like today sometimes. Sure, it may not have been the way I would have liked to, but spending an evening in bed with Dave is spending an evening in bed with Dave.

He came over after his afternoon shift at work to see how I was doing.

I said, "I'm doing fine."

And he asked, "Fine?"

And I rolled my eyes and said, "I'm as fine as can be expected." He just stood there looking at me so I said, "My lungs still hurt."

Then he sat down on the bed and said, "You're using the oxygen."

And I just looked at him like, "Of course I'm using the oxygen."

He said, "I figured you'd say you didn't need it."

So I said, "I was poisoned. The doctors said that this is the best way to get it out of my system. I want to be back on the streets as soon as possible. So I'm using the oxygen."

Dave smiled at me then and said, "That's very- I'm proud of you."

And I just looked at him again and said, "Why?"

And he said, "The last time you were in the hospital you kept trying to deny your injury."

I said, "The last time I was in the hospital it was because a little shit ambushed me with a pipe at school. I never denied that. What I denied was that I needed help," then I started typing again and said, "My traitorous leg didn't agree with me."

I didn't want to look at Dave because I just knew he was smiling at me and if I did I'd start blushing.

Then he asked what I was doing and I told him I was e-mailing realtors about looking at some property..

He asked if he could see so I told him to come sit nest to me, and that's how I ended up spending the rest of the evening with Dave in my bed.

He sat real close to me too. So close he had to put his arm behind me to sit comfortably. I wish he would have put his arm _around_ me, but I have a feeling he was intentionally NOT doing that.

He was surprised that I was looking at entire buildings. I told him that sometimes it's easier to own the property outright than to try and rent a piece of it. Especially with the modifications we'd have to make.

I showed him one building that I really liked. It used to be a warehouse that was converted into an art center or something. The first floor used to be a supply store, the second had a ballet studio on it, and the third floor had smaller studios, but when the economy went to shit the people renting the space stopped being able to pay and the place had been vacant for the last fie years and the current owner was getting desperate.

He looked at me and asked, "How do you figure that?"

I pointed to the price and said, "Even for that neighborhood that's low. About thirty thousand less than I was expecting. Assuming we don't have to do too much work on the building itself it'd be perfect for what we're doing. Especially if we can find people to rent the other spaces. We might even be able to turn a profit after a couple years."

He'd leaned in to look at it better and said, "Wow. You are really amazing sometimes."

He was so close I couldn't resist saying, "Dave?"

And when he turned to look at me I kissed him.

Well, I tried to at least. He must have expected me to try that because he brought his hand up in front of his mouth so I ended up kinda kissing that instead of his lips.

He smirked at me and said, "Try that again and I'm leaving."

So I sat back and said, "Fine."

He poked at some of the other stuff I'd been working on, like trying to see what if anything the murder victims had in common.

I ended up just watching him for a few minutes before I finally asked the question I'd been trying to not think about; "What happened yesterday?"

He froze for a full five seconds before he said, "What do you mean?"

"What happened to me last night? What happened to you? How did I get out?"

He looked at me out of the corner of his eye and said, "What do you mean? We got jumped, they carried you off, I tracked you down, got you out, and took you to the hospital."

I said, "I figured that much. But what actually happened?"

He sighed and said, "What do you remember?"

So I told him I remembered the guy tackling him then getting hit, carried off, and thrown in the van, then waking up tied to a chair and Chris taunting me for a bit, then waking up in the box and trying to break out, then a vague memory of gunshots, then finally waking up in the hospital. I left out the part about thinking I saw my Dad.

"Well, you know more about the beginning than I do then. By the time I got Kingpin off me the van was already speeding off."

So of course I had to ask, "Kingpin?"

"That's how big the guy was."

I saw the guy, so I know it was an exaggeration, but he wasn't that far off.

"I called Justice Forever, and the Colonel put out a description of the van. Insect Guy started checking traffic cameras. I hunted down a group of cunts to make them tell me where Chris would have taken you. I didn't get anything from them. Luckily I remembered to check the GPS locator on your phone. So, I grabbed some gear, got in the Hit Mobile, and hit the place hard and fast, and got you out. You weren't breathing so I gave you CPR until you were but you didn't wake up so I took you the nearest hospital and they took care of you. You woke up...I dunno. Later. I wasn't really paying attention to the time."

"So you saved me by yourself?"

"Uh...yeah."

"So, I guess that means you're my big damn hero?"

Dave started looking nervous, and I don't blame him because I started leaning in real close to him. He said, "I suppose...you could say that... But it's, ya know, no big thing. I mean, we're partners. Of course I came after you."

"Doesn't mean I can't thank you,"

He let me get about a half inch from his lips before he pushed me back and said, "Didn't I tell you not to try that again?"

I sighed and went limp, flopping against him and then hugged him around the waist. I said, "I'm really glad I don't remember most of what happened. Thank you for saving me."

He rubbed my back and said, "I told you. It's nothing you have to thank me for. If nothing else I owe you."

"No you don't. You've saved me more than I've saved you."

"No I haven't."

"Yeah, Dave. You have. You saved me twice at D'amico's penthouse, you saved me from that shithead with the pipe, you saved me from Nathan Bush, and now you've saved me again." I lay there with my head practically in his lap and I didn't even think about how close I was to his dick once.

Then he said, "You save my life all the time. Without you watching my back I'd have been killed dozens of times over by now."

"I don't know what I'd do without you. If it was just me and Marcus I think I might have gone insane and run off months ago,"

"See?" he said, "There's no need to thank me because we're there for each other. Every day. Like partners are supposed to be."

We sat like that for awhile longer before I finally asked, "There's nothing you didn't tell me? Nothing else happened to me?"

Dave shook his head and kept rubbing my back, "No, nothing I know of. Why?"

"Just feeling lucky I guess."

Then Marcus came in. Well, that's when he coughed and we looked up to see him standing in the door.

I think we should get credit for not leaping apart like we got caught doing something bad. I mean, we weren't, but still. I just sat up and said, "Hello" and Dave said, "What's up?"

Marcus just stood there, leaning against the door frame for a moment before he said, "Just checking in. How're you doing sweetie?"

I said, "I'm doing okay. Thanks for the headphones and the soup. I stayed in bed like you asked."

Then he raised an eyebrow and said, "Really?"

I shrugged and said, "Well, mostly. I went to the kitchen to get food, I let Dave in, used the bathroom."

"I'm just glad you're actually resting."

I shrugged again and said, "My lungs still hurt."

Then he looked at Dave and said, "What about you?"

Dave said, "I...am fine."

"You staying for dinner?"

I said, "Yes."

He said, "Actually I can't. I need to go talk to Riley."

A part of me hoped that meant he was going to break up with her, but that was a foolish hope and I knew it. I asked him, "Why?"

He said, "Well, everybody knows Hit Girl got snatched last night, that Kick-Ass was running across the city trying to track her down, and that she ended up in the hospital."

I really fucking hate twitter sometimes.

"So when I didn't come home until dawn it wasn't hard for to figure it out."

Marcus blinked and said, "That's all it took?"

He said, "Well, on top of everything else. Like, when I was stabbed in the leg." Then he paused and said, "And she found my costume."

And I screamed "what", called him an idiot, pounced on him and started choking him for being a careless idiot, while beating his head against the mattress.

I stopped after a minute and he said, "It wasn't like it's the one I wear now. It was my old, unarmored one. I left it in one of the boxes in my closet and forgot about it. And she already figured it out, that's why she went digging through my stuff. Her finding it just meant I couldn't deny it."

I sat there glaring at him and said, "You're still an idiot."

And he said, "Yes, yes I am. I'm sorry. Forgive me?"

And I don't know if he did intentionally or not but goddammit it worked. I don't know if I'll ever be able to stay mad at him. So I huffed dramatically and said, "Yes. Dumbass."

Marcus just rubbed at the bridge of his nose and said, "If I ever start understanding you two, just put me out of my misery." then walked away.

Then Dave said, "Which reminds me," and scrambled off the bed for his backpack, "I don't want to forget to give this to you again."

He handed me a wrapped book and said, "This was for your Birthday, but with, ya know, everything, I forgot about it."

It was a purple faux-leather bound diary that had my mask and wig embossed on it with the word, "Intensity" under it.

He said he saw it when he went shopping with Riley for more notebooks and that there were a bunch of other ones. His said "Courage", Alice's said "Hope", John's said "Justice", and The Gentleman's said, "Civility"

Which is kinda cool. I guess. I don't know if I'll use it though. Right now I just use a composition notebook with "Algebra" written on the front. Keeps people from looking at. That time at the hotel being an exception. This might attract nosy people's attention.

I like it though. I snuck a quick kiss to his cheek and said "thank you" for it, which he didn't seem to mind. He left afterward though.

Sometimes I just don't know what to do.


	193. Chapter 193

_**Mako's Message: **Hello everybody! (Hello Dr. Makokam!) Sorry about how long this took to get out. I had some complications that haven't gone away, but I've become aware of them so hopefully I'll be able to compensate for them better and get back to at least a chapter a week._

_As for THIS chapter... Mindy was talkative. And I've been kind of in a weird mood lately, as those of you I talk to have probably noticed, so Mindy kinda ended up being Little Miss Fanservice in this chapter. I'm almost ashamed of that. ALMOST. I actually cut back on some of the comments because I thought they would just be too much. But I spent all day hammering away at this and I'm pretty sure it's typo free(or damn close) for once, so I'm rather happy with this. Hopefully you'll all enjoy it, and find at least one thing that really stands out, if not many things._

_Until next time.  
_

* * *

Well, today was one of those days. Well, not one of THOSE days. Just one of those days where I wonder if everything really happened in one day. I guess it just makes up for the fact that I spent most of yesterday sitting on my ass.

Which, by the way, totally threw off my sleep schedule. Since I slept most of the day and didn't really do anything I couldn't get to sleep until after four in the morning. Dave and I usually pack it in at two at the latest on weekdays. That's when the bars close so we're able to catch any trouble from the just released drunks on our way home, but the odds of running into any trouble later than that is too slim to be worth it. By 2:30 even the lowlifes of the city are either in for the night or passed out in an alley or park or something.

Anyway, point is I ended up sleeping in way past when I normally get up. I didn't get up until Dave was ringing our bell. Must have taken me awhile for that to wake me up too because I had three texts from Dave asking if I was even awake yet. I started to grab a pair of shorts before going to let him in, but I knew Marcus wasn't home, and it occurred to me at the last second that I could have some fun. So I answered the door in just a t-shirt and panties.

Got a great reaction from Dave when I opened the door. Not the kind of reaction I was hoping for, but the odds of Dave just taking me right there in the living room are pretty much nill, so I didn't exactly have my hopes up.

But my just-out-of-bed look definitely got a reaction out of him. He couldn't figure out where to look. He obviously didn't want to look at me, but he just as obviously didn't want to NOT look at me. And I know I caught his eyes flicking down to my legs a couple times.

I swear I've never felt sexier in my life. In fact, I think this is probably the first time I've ever actually felt sexy. Every other time anything like this happened I was either a bundle of nerves or embarrassed. The closest was when we soaked in the tub together, but I was still nervous as hell about that and too worried about him rejecting me to try anything.

Now I know where we stand though. More or less. Hell, Dave's seen me naked. Well, mostly naked. Topless. And he knows how I feel about him and hasn't done more than push me to arms length. So since I know...well, I'm 99% sure he's not going to stop talking to me because of it, I can tease and tempt him all I want as long it doesn't get us in trouble.

I stretched a lot more than was strictly necessary.

I got some orange juice and made an english muffin and ate it leaning back against the counter before telling him I was going to go get changed so we could go jogging. I didn't close my door, not that it made any difference since he stayed in the kitchen, but I liked the idea that he COULD have come in. I even took my time changing in the hopes that he'd come to see what was taking so long.

He probably figured that's what I was doing though, since he didn't even ask why it took me so long.

Jogging was fun too. It was kind of a race at times, since I was always trying to be in front of him. I wouldn't have minded being behind him, but his jogging clothes don't provide as nice a view as mine do.

I wanted Dave to come back with me, but he'd already jogged to my house, so once we got to his apartment he was ready to call it quits. I tried taunt him into doing another lap, but he said he had things to do and he needed a shower so that was a bust.

Don't know what he has to do. It's fucking summer and he graduated so- ew. I just realized he might have meant Riley. Ugh.

Anyway, when I got home there was a very angry Angela waiting for me.

I could tell she was pissed as soon as I saw her, but it took me a second to realize why. I hadn't talked to her since I was captured.

I was going to apologize to her but she started yelling at me first. She sent me a bunch of messages that I never responded to, even after Dave told her what happened and that I was okay, which was one of the main reasons she was so pissed. I checked my phone and I got her messages, but my phone never told me I had them. I mean, each of the messages showed as being unread, but I never saw a notification that I'd gotten them in the first place. And I was busy with other stuff so I didn't bother checking.

I've only been on the receiving end of Angela's rage a couple times, but I learned the best way to deal with it is to just let her rage. She wears herself out pretty quickly and forgives almost as fast once it's out of her system.

After about ten minutes she calmed down enough to tell me what exactly it was she wanted, "We need to do something for Jessi's Birthday."

And that was like a bat to the face.

I took a second and thought back to last year and counted up the days and realized that Jessi's birthday HAD already passed. Fortunately, Angela already had a plan. And any other day I might not have been up for it, but I was still kinda high on Dave's reaction to me so when she told me to, "Go put on something cute," I didn't question it.

After I showered and changed she told me we were going to go meet Dillon at the park and he was going to take some pictures of us to send to her. Which turned out to actually be kind of fun. Knowing Jessi would appreciate it, I made sure he got a few shots of me perched up on the playground equipment or in a tree. I even let him take a couple that I hoped Jessi would REALLY like. I mean, it was supposed to be a birthday present for her after all right? And I was still feeling good and felt like flaunting it.

And I could also give a copy or two to Dave. Not the same picture of course, that wouldn't be fair, but one of the ones I didn't send to Jessi.

A lot of the pictures were of me and Angela together of course, and we took some of each other with Dillon and of him by himself too. He's still with Lexi, surprisingly, but we know Jessi kinda liked him too so we still tried to make him look all studly and shit. He's grown a bit, he's almost as tall as Angela now, and filled out a little too, but he's still kinda small for a boy his age.

It was probably the closest to "normal" I've ever felt. I could almost see it not being so bad. Except that I had a feeling that that was a high point of being "normal" and that otherwise it'd be mundane and boring. And why would I want that when I can be extraordinary and making a difference while I'm at it?

...I think I just figured out why Angela has been so dead set on being a super hero with us.

Anyway, then we decided to go get some pictures of Marty and Todd too, because they were her friends too. Not close friends, but friends.

There was a moment though when I thought she was getting a little TOO flirty with them. I actually had to pull her out of Todd's lap at one point, saying, "Down girl." Not that I think Marty wouldn't enjoy it, hell, he's been having fun playing the field as well, but Todd has been kinda hopeless as far as I know. I wouldn't want Angela to get his hopes up. I mean, if she actually wanted to DATE one of them I wouldn't mind, but she's gonna have to look outside my circle of friends for her next boy toy.

That and knowing two of my friends had fucked would just be weird.

Then Angela wanted to go get pictures of Dave and Riley.

I kinda wanted my next meeting with Riley to be in private, but this would be a good way to test the water and if it turned out I needed to have a private talk with Riley, then I would have a private talk with Riley.

I knew Dave worked that afternoon, so I figured we'd just go to NYBC and we should be able to catch both of them. And we could get ice cream.

Riley was working and totally crushed when we got there, so we just sat down to wait while she worked her way through the line of people. It took her almost a half hour, but eventually it was just us and she looked at us and said, "Okay, before I let myself calm down, do any of you want ice cream?"

We said "No." and she let out this huge breath of air and almost collapsed against the counter. Then she pulled out a wet steaming rag and started wiping down all the counters and asked, "So what brings you in then? Dave doesn't start for another half hour."

Angela said, "We came to take pictures!" and Dillon held up his camera.

Riley said, "Oh, no, seriously? But I look like crap right now."

If Riley looked like crap I've never looked good a day in my life. In fact, she looked kinda like I do after a light work out which is usually when I feel like I'm looking my best.

Then she asked, "What are the pictures for?" and we explained about sending Jessi a bunch of pictures for her birthday. Then she said, "Oh, well in that case I can sit for some photos. We doing group shots or individuals?"

Dillon said, "Both."

She said, "Okay, just let me straighten my hair out and then we can do pictures before anyone comes in. Hopefully."

While she was gone Dillon started setting up one of the tables so we could all sit around it, and then Dave came in. He seemed surprised to see us, and I got an idea I couldn't resist.

I ran up and jumped into his arms. He caught me bridal style and I yelled for Dillon to take a picture.

I am allowed to have fun and be silly if I want. Blow me.

Dave just looked at me and said, "Really?" but he let Dillon take the picture.

Riley came out just after he snapped it, and she smirked at us then put her hands together and brought them up to her mouth and looked at Dave and said, "Clock in early. Please?"

Dave said, "New guy didn't show?"

And Riley said, "No, he didn't. Little flake. Not sure if I'm mad about that or not though. Not like I could have trained him or anything today, but since he wasn't here I couldn't have him scoop for me or even fetch more toppings."

He said, "Yeah, I'll clock in early." Then he looked at me and said, "Okay, you have three seconds to get down or I'm going to drop you."

I just smiled back at him and didn't move.

The son of a bitch dropped me.

Not like I fell on my ass or anything. I caught myself no problem. But it's the principle of the thing so I punched him in the back anyway as he went into the back to drop off his stuff.

While he was back there, Riley came around and leaned back on the counter between the stools and Dillon started snapping photos of her. That's what Dave came back out and said, "So what's going on?" and we explained about the whole pictures thing.

Dave was all for it and Riley waved him over to take a picture with her, and she wrapped herself around him and posed with him like this and that and it kinda made me want to punch her.

Instead I jumped on Dave's back and had Dillon take a picture of the three of us.

Dillon only managed a few pictures like that before Angela jumped in Dave's lap too.

After a few more pictures Riley said, "Okay, let's give poor Dave a break and do some of just us girls."

So we got around the table and she posed us, and as stupid as I felt I couldn't deny they looked good. And she always made sure I was at the front. I don't know if she knew about Jessi's feelings for me, or if it was just because I'm the smallest of us, but she also always had herself at the back, and she kept giving us compliments so it was hard for me to stay mad at her for being all over Dave.

We tried to be quick but thorough, since Riley said the place could get swarmed under at any moment. Once we decided we had enough photos we ordered some ice cream. Riley insisted on making them though, which I thought was weird since she was so busted before and Dave was there now. And I was also kinda disappointed because Dave always loads mine up with extra stuff. Then she rang the order up and I paid, and she scribbled something on the receipt before handing it to me.

She circled my order, which had been price adjusted to a penny, and drew an arrow to where she'd written, "Super Hero discount." Now, Dave will load up my order and give me extras, or even bump me up a size, but he's never given me my ice cream for free.

I looked up at her and she just winked at me before disappearing into the back.

Some people came in then, so Dave had to take care of them, but I gestured that we needed to talk asap as I left.

We went over to Dillon's house to start looking over the pictures and pick out the ones we wanted to send. When his Mom saw us come in she said, "Uh oh, should Lexi be worried?"

Angela leaned over the railing of the steps to see into the kitchen and said, "Yes Mrs. Maxwell, she should be _very_ worried. There's not going to be an innocent part of him left after we're through with him. You might want to put on some headphones for the next hour or so."

Dillon's face went completely red and I actually froze in shock..

Then his Mom said, "Oh my. Should _I_ be worried?"

And Angela said, "Oh no, not at all. We'll take _good _ca-" and that's when I grabbed her around the neck and covered her mouth.

I said, "We're going to be perfect little angels. Nothing to worry about at all."

Then his Mom said, "Hmm. Now I _am_ worried."

And then Angela bit me and I let go and smacked her upside the head and said, "What the hell is wrong with you?!"

And she said, "What? I'm never gonna miss an opportunity to stick it to that bitch. I just wish I could see the expression on her face if she heard we double teamed her boyfriend."

"I don't!" Dillon said, "She didn't like that I was spending the day with you two in the first place!".

Angela kinda froze, and said, "Oh, right. Sorry about that Dillon. Don't worry, your Mom probably wont tell her Mom I said that." then when we got to the top of the steps she looked back down the steps then came up and said, "So, in all seriousness, _has_ she given anything up to you?"

Dillon blushed again and started sputtering.

Angela grinned and said, "Well, don't worry, you're a good guy. I'm sure you'll get some once she she stops being a stuck up bitch and pulls that stick out of her ass."

Dillon turned so red I thought his head was actually going to explode.

When we finally got around to pulling the pictures off his camera, I asked her, "What is your problem with this chick anyway?"

And then she just looked at me and said, "You don't remember her?"

And I had no idea what she was talking about so I said, "No. Should I?"

She shook her head and said, "I guess you wouldn't. Don't worry about it. It's between me and her anyway."

I still have no idea what's going on between them, but the few times I remember seeing her, and the one time we actually spent time together at the park, she didn't give me any shit so whatever it is can stay between them. I have enough enemies as it is.

So we looked through all the pictures, and we liked a lot them. Way more than the initial "one of each of us, and then a couple group shots" idea Angela had. Dillon didn't mind, but he said we could only pick twenty four pictures because he only had eight photo sleeves. Turns out they'd been planning to put these in a binder and decorate it. I felt kinda stupid cause I thought we were just going to print them out and put them in an envelope with a card.

But once I started thinking bigger I thought, "Why not get a real album?" or "Why not print some out as full pages?"

Dillon said that he didn't have that much photo paper and getting more, especially in 10 by 8, would cost a lot. Obviously he and I have a very different idea of what "a lot" is so I offered to pay for it and Angela said she could chip in as well.

Then he said, "Well, if you don't mind spending the money, I know where we could get it professionally printed and bound."

Angela asked how much that would cost, and he said it depended on how many pages it was, but as long as we kept it reasonable it should be under fifty. So of course I said to go for it.

So then we sat around his computer playing around with formatting for an hour or so.

Before we finished I got a call from Uncle John, saying the real estate guy had called him back and wanted to show us that building I liked tonight. So I gave Angela thirty bucks, told her not to skimp on it, and excused myself.

Dillon caught up to me in the hall and told me not to worry and that he'd delete all the pictures of me. I liked that he remembered that, but I remember feeling like maybe I'd been a little too harsh after that, and I've been in a good mood all day so I told him he could keep them as long as he didn't post them on online or anything.

I had to hurry home and change before I could meet them though, since we were going to pretend I was his niece so we had to be there before the realtor got there and if I was his niece he probably wouldn't let me wear what I was wearing.

I managed to get there about ten minutes before the realtor, so we were able to take a quick stroll around the area. Turns out it's not quite as bad as I thought it was going to be. It looked like a few people had the same idea I did and the place was starting to pick up. Or people were hoping it would at least. Some of the buildings were still old and abandoned, and I know at least one was demolished since the picture of the building we were there to see was taken, but others looked new or at least newly renovated. One of them was actually kinda busy. If we get the place renting it out might actually be good a idea. Having a business on the first floor might actually make people pay LESS attention to it. Especially seeing someone go into the building.

Speaking of which, the building itself is pretty solid. Concrete not brick. The door to the steps is on the outside at ground level, but it's set about four feet in so that's good. The floor of the second floor was rotten though. There was a broken window nobody fixed. But I was going to have to replace the floor anyway. The part that used to be a ballet studio was smaller than I was expecting, but the wall between it and the next room can be knocked down which should give us plenty of room. It also has a divided locker room. Not that I don't enjoy sharing a bathroom with Dave at the safehouse, but if all of Justice Forever is going to be using this place then that'll come in handy. The ceiling in the ballet studio is also two floors high, but the next room's isn't, so I'm thinking we could knock out the whole wall and build a loft area or something.

One of the smaller studios on the fourth floor looked like somebody had been squatting in it. It brought back some memories I'd almost forgotten. It almost made me feel bad about having to boot them out, but if I get this building then I can't have squatters. It's bad for security.

The rest of the fourth floor looked fine though. Just some minor renovations to make it rentable, and those can wait until I'm ready to rent them, if I even decide to do that. The first floor is definitely going to get rented though.

I wonder if Atomic Comics is looking to branch out?

Anyway, it looked like I was right and the place could be about the best spot I'll find, so we made them an offer. Five thousand less than they were asking, considering the renovations we'd need to make. After the floor on the second floor and the squatter on the fourth I think the realtor was grateful our offer was as high as it was. I would have gone lower but I really want this place. If they make any sort of counter offer I'm gonna take it. If they stay at their asking price, I'll look around a bit more and then go back and see if they've changed their mind. If they haven't and I haven't found any place I like at least almost as much for less, I'll take it. But I think they want this place sold, and judging by the realtors reaction to floor I'm guessing he hasn't shown this place in awhile, so I bet they'll make an offer.

John asked if I wanted to stop and get something to eat since it had gotten kinda late by that point, but I passed. I could still make it home in time for dinner with Marcus if I hurried and I want to tell him about today. He loves hearing about me doing stuff like the picture thing. I also want to ask him some questions about the heart thief and the related murders. It's always good to get him in a good mood before asking about work stuff.

So, today was pretty good. Which was a nice change. Hopefully it stays that way for a while.

Knock on wood and shit.


	194. Chapter 194

_**Mako's Message: **And now back to your average sized chapters. So yeah, a fair bit shorter than the last three, but this one was up within a week this time so... compromises. Plus plot! We're also, unfortunately, probably back to the usual number of typos, but I want to get this up before I go to work so I can have reviews to look forward to when I come home. Hopefully._

_Enjoy!_

* * *

So.

I hate good news bad news situations.

I mean, it's summer, so I don't really have all that much to do. Sure, I enjoy sleeping in because I can, and I'll go hang out with Angela or Dave, and sometimes Marty and Todd, but I can only train so much in a day without being too tired to go out at night or hurting myself, and even my chores don't take much time.

So, I've been spending a lot of my free time trying to work out something from the heart stealer case. I can't make any real dents in it from the "who killed him in his cell" side of things since I just don't have access to that sort of thing, and I don't think dangling cops off of rooftops for information would be good for my reputation. I'm kinda walking a thin line with the cops as it is.

So, mostly I've been working with the murders the guy committed and the murders and missing people they're trying to pin on him. But when I plotted it all out on a map, it was just a massive blob. And that was just from the last two years, which was six months before they found the first one of these heartless bodies. It's kind of depressing to think that one person is going out and killing that many people just for shits and giggles. I mean, I barely have these kinds of numbers and I've been putting people down en mass.

That got me thinking that these couldn't ALL be from one guy. And people go missing for all kinds of reasons. Runnaways, kidnappings, accidents, hell even animal attacks. So, I pulled all the yellow pins, and the whole thing started to look a lot more manageable. It was still a blob but now I was working with a number that I could blame on one person. If he was really busy.

And as I was going through the files again, I noticed that some of them just didn't fit at all. Like, one guy was shot, this other woman was stabbed. Stuff like that. It didn't match the killings that brought this guy to their attention, and I figured they were just being thrown in so they could be called solved. Which is lazy and sloppy and I'm honestly not surprised. I wouldn't be surprised if more than a few of these were mob hits that some corrupt detectives were taking any opportunity to get off the books.

But some made sense. Like, missing a head, or a hand, or a whole limb. Like they were taken as a trophy. And others had been scavenged tot he point that cause of death couldn't be determined or just completely skeletonized. And of course only a couple of those were actually complete skeletons.

So I started rearranging my map. I took out all the red pins for murders that were probably unrelated and replaced them with yellow pins, leaving only the red ones were the bodies were missing parts or death couldn't be determined. Then I went ahead and replaced the red ones where there were damaged or missing ribs with green ones and my map started making a little more sense. I could actually see one psycho being able to pull this off.

But it was still spread out over three fucking states.

Then I realized that some of the skeletonized bodies didn't have an estimated time of death, so they could be old as hell as far as I knew. Obviously those CSI shows are full of shit. Either that or people that good and the equipment they use are as rare as fucking unicorns.

So I asked Marcus if he could find more unsolved deaths for me, where the body was either missing pieces or skeletonized, but I wanted him to go back five years.

When I put THOSE pins in my map, I had a fucking breakthrough.

My map still showed a blob spread out over three states, but now it was a blob spread out over three states _made out of dozens of little rings._

When I saw that I couldn't help falling back on my bed and saying, "Aw fuck."

Because along with realizing that we were dealing with multiple killers, I realized this had to be a conspiracy. Suddenly all those unrelated cases didn't seem thrown in the pile to get them off their desk, but to hide the truth. And if there were people in law enforcement involved then that would explain why "no one" knows what happened to that guy.

There could even be more of these cases that were swept under the rug.

It's fucking depressing really. Marcus isn't going to be happy when I show him this, but I don't think we'll be able to do anything unless we have an inside man too.

I mean, I don't even have any ideas for how to track these guys down. There's nothing that I can see to connect the victims aside from the way they died, and if we can't identify possible targets how are supposed to find the

THEY TOOK MY OFFER! YES! I HAVE A BUILDING!

Shit I wish I'd gone lower now. But whatever. I get to design a new safehouse and training center. And I've got more space to work with than ever! This is going to be so fucking SWEET!

Of course, now I have to start looking up contractors for most of the general work, and I'm gonna need to hire at least three different ones so no one knows the whole story of what's being done there. I'm also gonna need to start hunting down furniture and equipment to put in it.

At least I'll be able to clear out some of the stuff in Safehouse C. The bedroom is small enough without all those crates.

Two steps forward. One step back.


	195. Chapter 195

_**Mako's Message: **New chapter! Woo! Good news. I paid a friend in spoilers to help me organize the next six chapter(counting this one) so from here to Ch200 the updates should be pretty regular. Ch200, btw, will be a bonus you'll want to get. Not saying it'll be epic or anything, cause it probably wont, but it'll have info you'll most likely want._

_THIS chapter however... is mostly just build up, but should be fun anyway. Enjoy!_

* * *

Today proved that what already felt like a long summer was going to be a REALLY long summer.

I had Angela and Katie join Dave and me for our jog this morning since it was time to follow up on my promise to train them.

I need to stop making promises. Or deals.

At the very least I need to get better deals. "Okay Dave, I'll train Katie, but you have to take me out on a date once a week, including kisses and sex."

Actually that sounds kinda bad. Even if he agreed to that it'd probably be minimal. Like, he'd take me to dinner then bring me home, kiss me, then bed me over my bed and... I take it back. I like that image. Sure, he might start doing it because he "had to" but once he got a taste I'm sure he'd start to enjoy it.

I don't really want him to "have to" though. I want him to fucking ravish me. I want him to pin me up against a wall or throw me on my bed, or, well, now I think I'll add "bend me over a table" to the list of things I want him to do to me and just rip my clothes off and kiss every part of me like he'll die if he doesn't and shove his big dick in me and fuck me into jelly.

Anyway. Today.

Today Angela and Katie joined us. Angela was surprised to see Katie and she's obviously still mad at her. I think there might still be a little bit of her old fan worship going on though, because it looked like she couldn't figure out what to say to her so she ended up just not saying anything.

Katie, on the other hand, showed up looking fucking perfect, as usual. She looked like a fucking model in a sports catalog. I don't know if she still has some delusion of winning Dave back or what, but Dave didn't give her the time of day so HA!

She didn't look so fucking perfect by the end though. Looked like she was gonna die for awhile there. Unfortunately she didn't. Angela fared _slightly_ better because she'd been jogging for cheerleading. Obviously whatever they thought they'd been doing wasn't a REAL jog because Dave and I weren't even able to break a sweat trying to keep a pace they could keep up with.

I seriously wanted to ask Dave to do another lap with me but it took so fucking long we didn't have time before I was meeting Uncle John to take another look at my new building so we could figure out everything we needed to do to it.

When we stopped Dave looked at them and said, "Is this what it was like for you when we started?"

And I smirked at him and said, "No. You were in worse shape."

He groaned and started taking his weights off then I started doing the same.

When Angela looked up and saw what were were doing she went, "You were wearing WEIGHTS?!"

And Dave just looked at her and Katie who was just speechless and said, "Uh...yeah?"

I said, "You do realize my suit by itself weighs like, fifteen pounds don't you? And then put my weapons and equipment on top of that. I'm carrying about thirty pounds of gear every night. Dave's SUIT weighs more than all of my gear."

They both kinda whimpered at that, which I'll admit I enjoyed, so I tossed on, "And that's what you have to look forward to if you really wanna do this. Feel free to quit any time."

They said, "Never!" and "Not gonna happen." at the same time. It was kind of depressing but at the same time I felt kinda proud of them for sticking through it. Well, of Angela at least.

So then I held up two pedometers and said, "These are pedometers. They'll tell me how far you run and how fast you run it. You will either run with us every morning, or you will take one of these with you and use it daily to run two miles. If I think you're slacking, I will kick the shit out of you. If that fails to change your attitude, I'm gonna cut you loose. Do you understand?"

They nodded, so I held them out and said, "Which will it be?"

Katie took one, Angela didn't.

I was kinda surprised that Katie did. I thought she'd want to spend more time around Dave. Show him how hard she's trying. But whatever. The less time I have to spend around her the better.

I'd be mad about Angela butting in on my morning jogs with Dave, but at least this way I can try and run her into the ground and make her give this up.

Anyway, I met up with Uncle John an hour later to start measuring the place out and figuring out just what we can and can't do with the place.

One thing we didn't notice is that the little office on the second floor is actually attached to the ballet studio. There's a hidden door between the two. And by "hidden" I mean it's part of the mirrored wall in the studio. On the office side it looks like a normal door. A part of me wanted to leave it, just because, but I think the extra space will be better than having a secret door for no reason other than having a secret door.

I'm really liking the idea of having a loft living space or something. Put some cots and chairs or couches up there. The office space we could split into a kitchen and workspace to repair and maintain our gear. This'll be our best safehouse yet! It'll be like my old home with Daddy combined with the JF headquarters but better. I can't wait to start working on designs with Dave. This is going to be so fucking sweet.

Unfortunately the place needs a lot of work to get to that point. The place is dusty and there's still some junk in some of the rooms, and of course some general repair work. John and I actually spent a couple hours sweeping the place out and poking at everything to see just how much we'd need to replace.

The top two floors just need cleaned out. We'll figure out what to do with them later. I don't know what to do with the bottom floor though. I want to rent it out and I want it to be to something that'll get a lot of traffic so us coming and going wont be noticed but I don't know how to renovate it for a business when I don't even know what it is that'll be going into it. I'd like it to be a coffee shop or something like that, but there's already one of those on this block and... ah fuck it. I'll worry about it later.

Right now I have to figure out a way to explain my conspiracy theory to Marcus in a way he'll believe and dinner is in half an hour.


	196. Chapter 196

_**Mako's Message: **I feel like there should be more to this chapter but I can't figure out what or how to __put it in and my patience has reached it's limit so here we are. _

_I suppose I'll also dedicate this chapter to 2wingo since there's something in here he's been begging me for to write in for the last two years.  
_

* * *

The thing I hate the most about Riley is that I can't seem to hate her.

It sounds stupid, but it's true. I'm jealous of her for sure, but I don't hate her. And I really should. She's way prettier than Katie, and she's so much nicer, but not in a "look at me and how pretty and perfect I am" kind of way. It's weird. Riley isn't actually nicer to me than Katie was. Well, at first at least. She teases me sometimes, and makes jokes about me. But for some reason I never...okay, at first I thought she was a total slut who would take Dave in the back and blow him or drop her panties for him as soon as look at him. But since then, even after they started dating, I've started to actually like her.

If I had to guess, I'd say it's that Riley feels real, and Katie always felt fake. Like plastic. A Barbie doll.

I can't even hate that she knows about me and Dave. I don't like it. Too many people know already. But everybody that's found out is a close friend anyway. People who would have reasons to figure it out.

And I trust Riley. More than I thought I did at least.

I wanted to work on plans for the new training center with Dave today, but their new guy totally flaked on training so he had to work almost a double shift. But I figured, hey, why not go and work on it with him anyway? It's not like the place is busy ALL the time or that I had anything better to do today after all.

So, I went over there with a pad of paper and some pencils and when he didn't have anything to do I'd show him my ideas and he'd make suggestions, and we'd just talk about the stuff we could do with the place.

Riley didn't even mind. She didn't try to pull him away or even yell at him for not working and I'm pretty sure she's still technically his supervisor. I mean, from everything Dave tells me she's practically a manager.

She did come over and ask to see what were were working on at one point though. I yanked the paper away and said, "Top Secret."

And she raised an eyebrow at me and said, "So, it's not so secret that you can work on it in a public place, but too secret for me to see?"

So I said, "Yes."

So she just shrugged and said, "Fine, then I'm gonna go place the weekly order. Have fun!" and kissed Dave on the cheek.

Dave actually looked embarrassed. It was kind of surprising, but then this is the first time any girl has shown him that level of affection in front of me since he and Katie broke up, and now how I feel about him is all out in the open, so... I dunno.

Anyway, after awhile of looking through all my designs and ideas Dave said, "Ya know, when you're older you should be an architect or an interior designer or something."

And I just gave him this look and said, "Why would I want to do that? I'm a godamned super hero."

And he said, "Right, of course. Silly me." And then we went back to brainstorming for the new training center.

We filled up half the damn pad with ideas by the time Riley came back. Most of them probably aren't going to fly, and some were either redundant or pointless. The idea of expanding it into three floors and installing a ramp to drive cars up to the second floor was really fucking cool, and we could probably make it work, but it would take way to much time and money. Plus we really don't need it, and that much work on a building would draw way too much attention and everybody would want to know what was going into it. Plus, we'd have to sacrifice the parking in the back to make that work, which would make renting the first floor so much harder that we might as well just make over the whole damn building and put the garage on the first floor anyway.

But like I said, time, money, need. This place is already going to be way bigger than anything we've had before. And being able to have some steady income from renters would be nice after all I'm gonna be sinking into this place.

Anyway, when Riley came back there was no one else in the store, so she started talking, not to me or Dave, just talking. She started saying stuff like, "I think that group Justice Forever should incorporate. Then they'd actually have some legal protection, ya know, in case someone pulls an Incredibles and sues? At least individually. And then they could apply as a non-profit organization for tax exemption. I'm sure it'd help with their supplies. They'd also be able to accept donations. And, if they were to, say, buy some property to, I dunno, have stuff shipped to instead of their actual base? One of the members could own it as an individual, instead of it belonging to the group, so they wouldn't even have that as an asset, and then rent the property through a property management company. If they wanted to be really sneaky they might even be able to set up a shell company."

She started to talk about something else, but then someone came in and she didn't bring it up again. I kinda wanna know what she was gonna say, but I don't want to ask her about it.


	197. Chapter 197

_**Mako's Message: **...ya know, the only thing I can think of to say is to remind you all of the 20th Chapter Bonus coming. I don't normally like to bring it up as it should be common knowledge by now and I don't like seem like I'm review begging, but I think this is one Bonus you're gonna wanna see._

_Enjoy!_

_(God I'm tired...)_

* * *

Marcus is finally acting like a cop.

Okay, that sounds way too harsh. Marcus is a good cop. Always was, especially to hear Daddy tell it.

He's acting the way you see cops on TV. Or the way I wish cops acted.

Once I was able to sit him down and explain what I'd found(a half dozen times), he finally seemed to accept that I was on to something, set up even bigger maps in his room, and started drafting a report on "his" findings and their implications. As well contacting other police districts in New York and neighboring states for more info and cases we could use to build a stronger case for my "conspiracy of killers" theory.

As much as it annoyed me that he wouldn't believe me at first, even after he fucking asked me to look into this because I had a unique perspective on the whole thing, I did enjoy getting to work with him on it. Discussing possibilities and theories, as well as clues we could use to narrow our list of kills down further, or bring ones we'd previously written off back in. Whatever could help us tighten the noose on this bastard. It was fun. Almost like father-daughter stuff.

Except, ya know, totally NOT my Father.

Anyway.

We had a Justice Forever meeting tonight. Apparently I'm not the only person who's been working on a project, because The Gentleman laid out this whole organized dog-fighting ring with different sites and the participants, and even a fucking flier for a big event calling itself "the super bowl of dogfighting".

On the one hand, I can't believe they actually made FLIERS.

On the other hand, I'm kinda pissed that I hadn't heard about this before. You'd think somebody would have mentioned it in an attempt to escape a beating or something.

Obviously I'm going to have to have words with my informants.

And maybe make a post that I'm not JUST interested in the cunts and drug busts or other organized crime.

I can't be expected to find out about this stuff all on my own, can I?

I gotta say though, it was interesting being on the receiving end of one of these briefings. Haven't had that happen since I was nine.

Anyway, he'd scouted the place out, which was a school in one of the out there districts of New York City that was closed down for one reason or another almost a decade ago, and he came up with this awesome plan. I'm pretty sure Stars helped with it, but he let The Gentleman take all the credit.

Though at the end John pulled me and Dave aside to ask why we'd never mentioned Riley before. Apparently they had "a nice long chat" at NYBC about her ideas after exchanging messages on the Justice Forever board.

Bitch is even managing to worm her way into this part of Dave's life.

Sometimes I feel like the only way I'll get Dave away from her is to kill her and I really, really don't want to do that.

Damnit.


	198. Chapter 198

_**Mako's Message**: Bah. I wanted this up on Thursday or Friday. But I also got my tax return, so I invested in a new writing station. New desk, chair, computer, printer, the whole shebang, and spent the weekend getting everything set up. Good news though, is that the next chapter is finished too so I'll post that tomorrow._

_Anyway, enjoy!_

* * *

Ya know, I think last night might have been our biggest success yet.

I mean, sure, we didn't kill, or even hospitalize, anyone, but some people would say that's part of why this was a success.

I mean, we had to have arrested at least three dozen people just for being there. Then there were the handlers, the "trainers", the guys running the betting, they even had a fucking concession stand!

I mean, sure, it wasn't quite as fun as busting up The Rainbow Factory, hell, this was almost boring compared to that, but... I don't even know how to explain it.

I was raised to take out thugs. The worst the world has to offer. Organized criminals sucking the life out of the world like a parasite. And to do it with extreme prejudice. And I fucking love it, not gonna lie. Just knowing there's one less piece of shit cluttering up the world makes my day better.

But this actually felt just as satisfying. Maybe even more.

And while it may have been boring compared to The Rainbow Factory, it was still pretty fun.

Dave, Stars, Biker Knight and I stalked the entrances, and when it looked like they were about to close the doors, and just when they were about to lock up so no one could sneak in, we snuck in. I grabbed the guy by the throat just as he was about to close the door. I literally had just enough room to slip my arm in and grab him. I fucking loved the expression on his face. He literally pissed himself.

Then I duct taped his mouth shut and zip cuffed his wrists and ankles.

White Mage came in after me, and the other guys went in through their doors in their own little teams as well.

I know the Guardian went with Stars because he's the only one he gets along with(his presence was the only downside to the whole mission). Dave went in with Dr. Gravity and Insect Guy. Biker Knight went in with Katie(who still hasn't changed her name. I'm gonna have to remind her about that) because he was the only person who hadn't listened to me bitch about her at least once, and The Gentleman was with them too. For some reason.

I don't know why I had Alice with me though. I'm not complaining. And I preferred her over pretty much everyone except Dave, John, or Biker Knight and they were all leading their own teams in. It's almost like they don't trust me not to slit people's throats when they're not looking. If I say I'm not going to kill people I wont.

Rampaging cunts going buckwild in the streets are a threat to myself and the public. This is just some asshole watching a door. I _am_ capable of just knocking him out.

Anyway, my job was to stealth my way in to the very center of the place, while Biker Knight's team secured the dogs, and the rest of them blocked off the exits.

They had this big arena filled with saw dust set up in gym, with all the stands pulled out and setup around it. They even pulled all the lighting around so that it all pointed down on the arena. It lighted the rest of the place up enough to see what you were doing, but kept it dim enough that people didn't feel like they'd be easily recognized.

Fucking douchbags.

I will give them credit though. It was a pretty nice set up. For illegal death matches between animals they really couldn't have done better unless they actually found a closed down arena. Or maybe an abandoned zoo.

The place was full of people placing bets, arguing, drinking, or just sitting around talking waiting for the "show" to start. It was honestly so fucking normal looking it made me sick.

So, we found the guy who was going to be announcing the fights, as well as the guy in charge of the lighting, and knocked them both out. White Mage stayed by the lighting and turned all the lights off, which apparently everyone took as the sign that the fights were about to start and they all took their seats.

I took the announcer guy and dragged him out into the arena, bound and gagged, and when I got to the center, Alice turned the lights back on, lighting me and my new friend up.

I held my hand out and said, "Ladies and gentleman! Welcome to the show! Unfortunately it's canceled and you are all under arrest. Do not try to escape, the doors are all securely locked so you won't get far. Please kneel on your seats with your hands on your heads and submit to the Justice Forever members that come to handcuff you. However, if you feel you MUST resist, go ahead," and then while still holding the announcer guy, I drew one of my guns, gave it a twirl, and then held it up, "Make my day!"

God I fucking loved it. When the lights came on some people actually screamed! And that last line just came to me on the spot. How often do you get a chance to use a line like that? Not often enough that's how often! And of course some people tried to run, but the rest of the team had the exits covered so they got beat down pretty quick. Kinda wish I could have been in on that, but they wanted me where I was because they thought seeing me would make the biggest impression and I had the best chance of getting into the center of things unnoticed.

A surprising number of people actually did what I said though. I left the announcer guy laying in the middle of the ring, and started cuffing the people closest, while the rest of the team started working their way though the stands.

It went surprisingly and disappointingly smoothly.

So then we marched the people who were compliant and dragged the people who weren't out to the parking lot and called the police to come pick them up, and we had some people from animal shelters on the way for the dogs.

So while we were just policing the field, waiting for the cops, White Mage and I decided to check on Biker Knight's group. We headed around to the back of the school, where they had all sorts of cages set up. Some where small, like what they put animals in fly in planes, and some where big with a bunch of dogs in them. They were full of Pit Bulls, and Rottweilers, and Dobermans, and even a couple German Shepherds. Then, there was one dog, a Bulldog, in a big cage by himself. He was so scarred up I think there might have been more scars on him than fur. All the other dogs were jumping around and barking and growling at us, but this guy just stood there, stock still, staring at us.

I went up to the bars, and he walked right up to them. Still didn't make a sound and just kept looking me right in the eye. I wasn't afraid of him, and he wasn't afraid of me, but I knew if I tried to reach through those bars I'd lose my hand.

Then all of a sudden Katie comes running up saying, "Oh my god! Hit Girl! You have to come see this!" only she didn't sound afraid or worried. She sounded excited and she just grabbed me by the arm and dragged me off.

It was embarrassing and I wanted to kick the shit out of her, but she has longer legs than me and she was running at full speed so I kept getting pulled off balance.

Dr. Gravity, The Gentleman, and Biker Knight were already there, waiting by this truck, and when we got there The Gentleman went back around to the front to help keep an eye on the prisoners.

Katie pulled me around to the back and said, "Aren't they adorable!"

And they'd popped open the back of this truck, and the thing was empty except for a bunch of hay all over the floor, toys scattered all over the place, and a litter of the most adorable puppies I've ever seen.

They were like big balls of fluff with cute little noses and eyes!

And they were just playing and jumping and climbing and wrestling with each other. It was so adorable!

I climbed up to sit in the back of the truck and one just ran right up and jumped on me! It started play biting and licking me and I couldn't stop laughing. The little guy almost knocked my wig off!

Alice climbed up with me and one of them came over to her too and started nipping at her too. It was so cute! She was like, "Oh, you jus wanna pway don you? Don you you wittle fwuff bawl?" and the rest of them noticed us then and came running over. Katie climbed up too and almost got bowled over. Dr. Gravity had to run up and catch a couple of the puppies that tried to leap out of the truck.

Dave showed up about then, and he just kinda stopped and stared, so I hopped out of the truck and ran up to him with the puppy and said, "Look! Isn't he adorable?"

And Dave grinned and reached out and rubbed the puppy behind the ears and it tried to jump up and nip at him, but I held onto him, so he just kinda stretched around and licked at his fingers.

Biker Knight was the only one that hadn't gone near the puppies though, so I went over and said, "What? Don't you wanna pet them?" and held the puppy out to him.

He hesitantly reached a hand up to him, but then the puppy turned and snapped at him. Not a playful nip or anything. Seriously tried to bite him. I could hear his teeth snap.

Biker knight pulled his hand away and took a couple more steps back.

He must be a cat person.

So then Dave said he came back to tell us that the shelter people where there and we should start helping them get the dogs.

Dave, Alice, and Dr. Gravity each grabbed two of the puppies, leaving me and Katie with one each. But my puppy was such a handful, climbing all over me and licking my face, that I didn't mind.

Someone must have told the press about what we were doing that night, because by the time we got back around the place was swarming with reporters. It was like a fucking Hollywood movie premier with all the camera's going. I had to double check that Justin Bieber and Lindsey Lohan weren't behind me doing coke off of Miley Cyrus while she got face fucked by Kanye West or something.

Col. Stars was waving us over to where the shelter people had set up their trucks, and when I saw him, I had the most brilliant idea I've ever had.

I asked one of the shelter people if we could keep my puppy. Specifically, if Col. Stars could keep him. I think me telling her about his dog dying last year(though at the last minute I decided I should leave out just HOW his dog died), and the fact that my puppy fucking LOVED me, was enough to make her okay us taking the puppy.

After telling us to get it registered and vaccinated and other shit.

One of the guys we arrested stood up when he saw us carrying the puppies over and started flipping his shit. Saying that they were his dogs and we couldn't take them. That he'd been breeding them "special"

The nearest cop clipped him in the back of the knee with his nightstick. That made me smile.

So, some of us started helping them walk the dogs around, and some of us helped the police load up all douchbags and douchbag-ettes. Dave AND Biker Knight helped the cops though, which was disappointing, because I wanted to help with the dogs. The Guardian and Katie were also helping with the dogs, which pissed me off. But at least White Mage was with me.

I think it was a good thing I decided to help with the dogs, because the last dog to be brought around was the bulldog and they must have gotten the same vibe from him that I did, because they weren't going to go in there without that big padded suit that makes you look like the marshmallow man. And they were going to use one of those loops-on-a-pole things.

Idiots.

You'd think they'd know this, but going in there like that is only going to make the dog fight. It's what it does. So I just grabbed one of the regular old leashes we were using for the calmer dogs and shoved Marshmallow Man aside and went into the cage. The dog backed up a bit, and growled at me a little, but more or less stood it's ground. Unlike the other dogs that just went batshit insane.

I held the leash out, with the little clip dangling down from my hand to about his eye level and we stared each other down again. I knew just from looking at him that if I tried to touch him without his permission he'd take my hand off. Or at least a finger. And I knew he knew that if he bit me I'd kill him.

After...I dunnno. A minute? He took a couple steps forward and sat down. So I went and kneeled down in front of him and held the leash out, he looked at for a minute then stretched his little stubby neck out about as far as it would go and I hooked the leash onto his colar.

Then I walked him back around to the front, gave him a little rub behind the ears, and sent him on his way.

I hope he's okay. He's a tough dog. And a good dog. As long as people aren't stupid with him he'll probably be fine. They just need to understand him.

And I really want to call him "Sir Charles". I dunno. Most people would look at him and think something like, "Ripper" but he's better than that. Noble. I should call and find out what they're doing with him and suggest the name. A name like that might give him a better chance at getting adopted or whatever.

At least give people a better mindset when dealing with him.

Anyway, Dave came over while I was watching them drive away, and he put an arm around my shoulders and said that the rest of the team were going to head to the diner to celebrate and wanted to know if I wanted to go.

I grinned and asked, "You gonna buy me desert?"

And he looked at me like, "Are you serious?" for a moment, and then he smiled and said, "Yeah, sure."

The reporters had mostly stopped taking pictures at that point and were trying to get interviews with the cops or other JF members, so I took a chance and put an arm around his waist. I mean, he had his arm around my shoulder, so, why not? We walked like that for a bit, but we broke apart before we attracted any attention.

I drove us to the diner in the Hit Mobile, the rest of Justice Forever went in John's van. The Guardian had this really sweet motorcycle. I'd love to get one like it. But in purple.

Biker Knight drove off his Ford POS and didn't join us, which was disappointing but not surprising. I mean, what was he gonna do? Just sit there and nod and not eat?

The Guardian did. At least for a little while.

He didn't stay for long, but by the time he left, everybody but Dave and Alice were talking to him, and I have a feeling that that was just a show of support for me.

John wasn't there for most of it either. He spent the first hour sitting in the back of his van with the puppy getting to know each other. He did eventually come in though, with the puppy. One of the waitress was about to say something about it, but you could see he change her mind.

And then we all got to pet the puppy again!

I don't even have the slightest clue what kind of dog it is. It looks like it might be... part lab or... I dunno. They're kinda rolly polly. And super fluffy. Kind of like a St. Bernard, but...not. Some of them are kinda stubby, so maybe there's some bulldog in there... I really don't know anything about dogs.

Anyway, we spent a couple hours there just talking and eating and drinking and being merry and shit. And playing with the puppy.

It was late as hell by the time we finally got home. Dave took me home too. Not that he needs to. But it was nice. No kiss goodnight though.

I was exhausted and passed out pretty much as soon as I hit the mattress again. I woke up late, but not too late. I'm pretty sure Dave slept in too cause he hasn't called or texted me about our morning jog yet.

When I went downstairs, there was a note from Marcus on top of today's paper, which had a big ass picture of my puppy licking me and me giggling about it. I'm not exactly happy about the massive amounts of light side points the picture added to my reputation, but it IS a good picture of me. And I guess it doesn't hurt to do things that give me a positive public image now and then. I mean, sure, Batman never had pictures taken of him with puppies licking his face, but Batman isn't real and had the cops practically in his pocket. Well, Commissioner Gordon at least. So, I guess it's not a bad thing. Not like I can't always make the criminal scum in this city terrified of me all over again.

Might even be fun.

Anyway, the note said, "I'm proud of you."

I never thought I'd ever hear Marcus say that to me. Not about what I do at night. I guess that's one of the big reasons I feel like last night was such a success. If even Marcus is pleased with what we did. It wasn't just a win against crime and evil, it was a win for Heroes everywhere. Show the whole city, maybe the whole country, that we can and ARE doing good.

Fuck, the only thing that could make this day better would be if I found out Chris got run over by a steam roller. Or if Dave said he wanted to fuck me.

Or both.


	199. Chapter 199

_**Mako's Message: **Well, I wanted to reply to all the reviews for last chapter before i posted this, but I keep getting distracted so I'm gonna put his up first. Also, because apparently a few people managed to read this far and not know how to earn a Bonus Chapter, here's how you do it:_

Review at least ten(10) out of every twenty(20) chapters.

_Now, next chapter might be awhile because it's...complicated. But hopefully the wait wont be much longer than average. _

_Enjoy!_

* * *

Okay, so, apparently, despite what the internet might tell you, waiting for a guy in his bed in nothing but a pair of panties and thigh-highs is NOT a sure way to get laid.

Lesson learned.


	200. Chapter 200

_**Mako'a Message:** Sorry about the delay on this one, again. As I said, this was a tricky chapter to write. They key part was trying to find the right tone. But I finally had a breakthrough last night and here we are._

_I think it's a suitable 200th chapter, don't you?_

* * *

Chris needs to die.

I need him dead.

I can't keep losing people.

Not to him.

I don't understand how these things can keep happening. How can the world allow-

I don't care if people say that people like Chris only exist because of people like me. I don't care because they're wrong. People like to say that The Joker exists only because of Batman, and while that's true, it doesn't change the fact there were still monsters out there. They just didn't wear masks.

Gotham was a corrupt and dangerous city. The only people that lived well were the mobsters and the corrupt officials that let them stay powerful for a share of the spoils. Batman may have made the crazies more noticeable, but they were always there.

And it takes people like me to clean up the mess.

I don't know how it started. I just know it blew up real fucking quick. The 911 lines practically crashed. Our twitter page broke. We got more messages in our inbox in those few hours than we have in the last couple of months.

It'd have been nice if the cops had helped, but they have some dumb ass policy about situations being "too dangerous". Sorry, but if you ask me, if your job is keep law and order in a city, then when two gangs are having an all out fucking WAR then you need to step in and put an end to it.

And it was ridiculous because it just kept escalating. I don't know where they were calling people in from but it seemed like more and more people just kept swarming in like flies to a corpse.

I even saw a few new heroes and some heroes I didn't know where still out there.

It's nice to know that there are still a few people around who wont put up with this shit.

It really was chaos. I can't even keep most of what happened straight. Dave and I got into the fight earlier than expected because while we were preparing to go in this guy came at us from behind. And then of course someone else saw us, and then someone else who had a gun saw us, and it just went down hill from there.

We shouldn't have come in from ground level. If we'd gone to the rooftops we could have engaged on our terms.

I might actually look into the tranquilizer gun thing. We went through our zip cuffs real fast, and I really wanted to start shooting motherfuckers, but I knew that would piss off Dave and well...

And I don't like shooting in close quarters with friendlies around. At the very least, if I hit Dave with a tranque then it's just "oops," not the end of the fucking world.

I really should have though. I should have just opened fire and wasted the motherfuckers. Dave could be mad at me if he wanted. I'd fix it. Eventually.

This I can't fix.

And it's my fault it happened anyway.

There were so many things I could have done differently, but there's only one thing I know for sure would have changed things.

If I hadn't stopped to catch my breath, if I'd just gone in and helped-

GODAMNIT! I HATE HIM SO MUCH!

WHY CANT HE JUST DIE ALREADY!?

_**FUCK!**_

Dave decides to try and go out and do some good in the world, and dresses up like a superhero just for the fun of it, and so now Chris has to do everything in his power to hurt as many people as he can? _What the fuck is wrong with this world?!_

If only we hadn't run into that fucking ninja bastard again I wouldn't have been so worn out. How is he so FAST? I swear to god I can barely see him MOVE some times. That's what **I** should be like.

I mean, that giant amazon bitch of Chris's was good. Really fucking scarily good. But she still seemed human. Dave and I were able to take her together. But this guy... it's like we're fighting two of him. He's everywhere at once. And it... I feel like this must be what it's like for all normal punks and junkies to fight me.

I hate it.

And what makes it worse that that I'm pretty sure the only reason Dave and I got out of that with only a few scratches is because the fucking Guardian showed up. That was the only time I've seen the guy use weapons too. And of course they were tonfa because what else would someone like him use?

Thanks to him were able to push the guy back and eventually run him off. The Guardian almost got himself killed too. The only good news about that is that by the time it happened the bastard was too worn out to keep fighting and used it as an opportunity to run for it.

At least White Mage was within shouting distance. Otherwise he'd probably be dead too. Or maybe instead of.

Why didn't the fucking cops help! Why didn't they do more than just keep it "contained"? Good people DIED because they were too fucking scared to step into the fire! And the fucking paramedics are even worse.

"It was too dangerous"

Fuck you. People are dying. Help them.

I'm just a godamn person. I can't fucking do EVERYTHING. I'm Hit Girl. Not Supergirl.

The worst part is that I can't stand the fact there isn't a hole. Not like when Marty was in the hospital. Not like when Jessi went away. Not even like when they fucking murdered Shield. I didn't even know his godamned NAME and it still hurt worse than this.

And that just makes me even more pissed off.

Or maybe the worst part is that I can't shake the feeling that if we hadn't tried to take down that grinning fuckhead he might have taken care of Chris for us.

I always assumed he was another of Chris' Supervillains, but the more I think about it the more I feel like he was chasing Chris too. Chris was already running full out when we ran into him. All seeing us did was making him change direction. He didn't even spare us an "oh shit!" he just...

Godfucking damnit. They were enemies. They had to have been. There's no other explanation. If they weren't, why didn't he run back to him? Or help him fight us?

"What you know is dangerous to your enemy. What you think you know is dangerous to yourself."

Thanks Dad. Learned that lesson a little too late.

Just like I thought I knew Biker Knight could handle Chris. Like I thought I knew I didn't need to step in. Like how I thought this would be a good chance to catch my breath and watch Chris get his ass kicked.

It wasn't even wrong, really. I just.. shit happens.

How was I supposed to know that because of stupid piece of wood Biker Knight would stumble, which would let Chris kick her off the loading dock, and then jump off after her and impale her before she could recover.

God I can still hear her scream.

I was too shocked to move at first, but it didn't matter. There was nothing I could have done at that point. Not unless I could jump back in time and shoot that motherfucker in the face as soon as I saw him.

I fucking hate his face so much. I'm gonna shoot him in it until he doesn't have one anymore. I keep seeing that triumphant, manic fucking glee as he twisted the sword in her.

And I couldn't DO ANYTHING!

I couldn't even move until he fucking laughed at us and ran.

My aim was all thrown off and he was gone before I could correct it. Wasted half a fucking magazine.

When I finally got to her she was clawing at her helmet and there was blood dripping out from under it. It felt like forever before I was able to get it off her. It didn't help that there was some sort of oxygen mask under the helmet.

Actually I guess it did. Once we were able to get it off her it was probably the only reason she lived as long as she did. But while it was just filling up with the blood she kept coughing up and choking her it was only making it worse.

That is really not the way I wanted to see her face.

She was beautiful too. In a harsh, stark kind of way. Her features were very sharp, like she was carved out of stone, and she- well, she was probably pale because of the blood loss, but her hair was this straight, pale blond and she had these clear, pale, ice blue eyes.

I don't think I've ever looked into someone's eyes as they died before.

And it took me a minute to realize that's what I was doing. I kept screaming for help. For Dave, or Alice, or anyone. Alice was still patching up The Guardian when it happened. Dave only knows the most basic first aid and... all I could think was think "I can't believe I'm going to watch her die".

Dave was scared to move her, so he ran off to try and drag some paramedics over, and he did eventually manage it, but it was too late.

I wish I could have done something. All I did was freak out like a little bitch and hold her hand in mine and her head in my lap.

She squeezed my hand and made me look at her, and choked out, "Promise me. Promise me. Please."

Of course I did. I have no idea what she meant, but I promised.

I can't stand that I wasn't able to do anything! There should have been something I could have done. ANYTHIGN besides sit there and hold her and put pressure on the wound which was fucking pointless because not only did he ram his sword straight through her into the concrete, but he fucking twisted it wide open.

Alice got there maybe a minute before the paramedics. They did what they could, or at least what they were supposed to, but it didn't really matter. She was too far gone.

One of them looked like they were going to try and stop me from riding with her, but they thought better of it.

She didn't make it to the hospital.

It wasn't until I was was sitting there in the emergency ambulance parking area waiting for Dave to get there to pick me up that I realized she'd given me a set of dog tags.

So at least I know her name now.

Samantha.

Samantha Aarons.

And somehow that just makes it worse. That I didn't learn her name until she was dead.

I feel like I've known her for... god. I remember seeing her for the first time way back in September...or was it October? Of 2010. Almost two years ago. I feel like we've been through so much together but I don't know a damn thing about her. I don't know her at all. I never even knew what she fucking called herself when she was in costume.

So here's this person I've known- known of for longer than I've known Angela or Jessi, who I fought side by side with, and she's dead now and...

I barely feel anything.

I fought with this woman but I never KNEW her. She was always this faceless, silent, badass and there's a part of me that's going, "Wow. We'll never get to work with her again. That sucks." but it's not SAD.

And I fucking HATE it.

I HATE IT

She deserves better than that!

She was one of the best of us. She was one of the top five heroes in the city. Maybe even top three. And now she's gone and...

what?

How can we miss someone we didn't know?

It's wrong. I hate it. So much.

Why couldn't she tell us anything? Why'd she have to wear that damn mask that muffled her voice so much that even when she fucking screamed I could barely hear her?

God that's fucked up. First time I hear her voice after almost two years and it's her death scream.

Part of me wants to start looking for her. Find out who she was. Where her family is. Maybe let them know what happened to her or something I don't fucking know.

But another part of me doesn't WANT to know her. Because when I learn about her... I mean, what if she had KIDS or something? If I learn about who she is...then I WILL feel sad. Or at least I hope I would. But I don't WANT to feel that. But she deserves it and..

I don't fucking know.

I wish Dave was here

I need him so much right now.

But he ran off as soon as he could.

I don't really blame him. He's always kicking himself about not doing something about Chris when he had the chance. I can't imagine what he's going through right now.

I just wish he was going through it with me.

But that's probably my own fault.

Instead he's with Riley.

He should be with me. He's SUPPOSED to be with me right now.

This is all just wrong.

So fucking wrong.


	201. Chapter 201

_**Mako's Message: **...well, I've gone longer without updating..._

_Getting into your characters mindset can be counter productive sometimes. Fortunately I managed to get around that little block and, while this didn't go as planned, I think I like it._

_Also, I am_ seriously considering **disabling anonymous reviews**. _You know who you are._

_And finally, the qualifying period for the Ch200 Bonus is **closed**. Qualifiers will be announced next chapter._

* * *

It's only July.

Even after all the shit that's happened, it's still only July. It's like the summer from hell or something.

At least this year from hell is more than half over. Though I'm kinda worried what the rest of the year has in store. I'd like to wish the worst was over, but I seem to have bad luck with things like that.

I tried to enjoy Marcus' annual barbeque, even wore a dress without Marcus asking me to, but... everything just feels like it sucks now.

Dave sat down across from me to eat, and he even held my hand a little, which normally would be awesome but now all I can think about is that he wasn't sitting NEXT to me.

And Riley was there, which... had it's ups and downs.

I mean, I would have rather her NOT been there, but after my stupid pant and stocking stunt I'm not surprised he felt like he should remind me he's taken. He hasn't brought it up though for some reason. Not that I'm complaining.

And there was this one moment that shows that things aren't quite perfect with them, which gives a girl hope.

Dave and I were sitting there, on opposite sides of a table, talking, and he had his hand resting on mine, well, his fingers at least, and Riley came over after talking to the other people and sat down with Dave, and asked how we were doing.

Dave said, "Well, I saw you flirting with Marcus."

And she got offended and said, "I was NOT flirting with Marcus!"

And Dave just sorta looked at her, and then raised his eyebrow, and she blushed and said, "Okay, maybe I was. A little. There's only one letter difference between 'tits' and 'tips' ya know. Sometimes it's hard to turn it off."

Dave just laughed at her and she punched him in the shoulder.

I've been spending a lot more time than usual at JF HQ. Playing with the puppy has been fun. Except the problem is that I was supposed to be helping John TRAIN the puppy. He hasn't named him yet, but he's leaning towards Teddy Roosevelt. Teddy at home, Roosevelt in the field.

It's probably going to be his name, but John says he's still thinking about it.

Anyway, I ended up playing with the little fluff ball more than training him, so eventually John kicked me out and said we could arrange a playdate for later if I wanted.

I'm considering it.

Angela calls it "fuzz therapy"

Angela has a strange idea of therapy though. When she saw how tense I was she suggested I go with her to hang out at the pool. So, I've been going with her after our morning jogs for a couple hours.

She seems pretty popular. All the guys I've seen more than once know her by name. She flirts shamelessly.

Which is where her other suggestion came from.

To get laid.

It hasn't been a secret that I want Dave for longer than I knew, but once I did Angela and I would talk about... well, sex sometimes. So, she knew I really wanted to fuck Dave. She said that all that sexual tension wasn't good for me on top of everything else and that I really shouldn't hold out for Dave since it looked like it would be awhile before we got together if it even happened.

She said this because she cares about me.

But I told her I wasn't interested in guys in general, I mean, yeah, I admit there are some pretty cute guys at our school, but I don't want Dave just for sex. That's a bonus. So I told her that I didn't just want dick, I wanted DAVE's dick.

She said, "I wasn't thinking about just some guy, I was thinking of Dillon. He's a great guy and you like him."

I told her that if liking a guy was enough for me to want to fuck them I could get laid just by asking Marty or Todd. Well, maybe not Marty. And even if I wanted to, Dillon is with Lexi.

She just smirked at me and said, "You say that like it's a problem."

I rolled my eyes at her and said, "If you want him to cheat on Lexi why don't you just seduce him yourself or whatever?"

She said, "First, Dillon is too good a guy a cheat on his girlfriend, I'd need to make him leave her and he never showed any interest in me. Second, I don't want a boyfriend anyway. I'm perfectly happy to nail and bail. No attachments. Just a night of fun and then on to the next one."

That's when I asked just how many guys she'd been with. She actually had to count on her fingers. Finally she came up with, "Ten or twelve"

And I was like, "You don't _know_?"

And she said, "Well, I've had a couple quickies in the locker room here and they kinda blend together. I know it's not more than a dozen though."

When she saw me staring at her like, "Are you fucking serious?"

She just stared right back at me and said, "What? I bet if you ever land Dave you'll have sex more than that in the first WEEK. I just happen to have a policy against having sex with the same guy twice. And I always use condoms. I carry two with me all the time just in case."

I said, "I think your logic about this whole thing is flawed but whatever."

And we just sat there on our towels in silence for awhile before she said, "So, did you see that The Grey Guard has been confirmed?"

I had no idea who she was talking about, so she told me about this rumored hero patrolling Central Park, but nobody had gotten a good look at him, so they didn't know if he was a new hero or not, and since people kept saying he stuck to the trees, people who hadn't seen him thought they were just making it up.

Then she asked why I didn't know any of this.

I explained that I'd been kinda busy.

So then she asked if we were going to invite him to join Justice Forever.

And I was like, "What? Because Biker Knight is dead? She's not a fucking GOLDFISH! We can't just _replace_ her!"

And she looked all horrified and was like, "I didn't mean it like that! I just meant that you'll need all the help you can get taking Chris out, right? And now that we know for sure he's out there won't you want his help?"

She did have a point unfortunately. But I'm not interested in inviting mysterious heroes into the group anymore. No more unknowns. If they're with us, they're with us. If they're not, they're not.

Which was why I decided I needed to start training Angela. And Katie. Seriously.

I don't WANT either of them out there. Especially not Angela... but we might need her, and I know I can trust her. And Katie. Sorta. I think. At least when it comes to this.

So I'm gonna train them hard. Really, really fucking hard. They'll either give up, or be as good as me and Dave. Either way I win.

Sure, the new training center isn't finished, but it's together enough to use it. I can get things a little more put together myself, and if I give up the plan of having different contractors working separately I can have it finished even faster.

It'll be nice to finally have it together. And getting the rest of Justice Forever toughened up will be nice too.

There's still the whole conspiracy with the serial killings to figure out though. And the fiend in black. Hopefully we can stay out of his way until Chris is dead, one way or another.

And here I was looking forward to the summer because it would be _relaxing_.


	202. Chapter 202

_**Mako's Message:** It's hard to write when your brains are melting and running out your ears._

_Hopefully I'll get used to the heat soon and won't have that problem anymore._

_Anyway, this chapter probably has some mistakes in it, cause they always do, but I can assure it's much better than the mess it was when I finished at 2am this morning._

_I want thank you for putting up with me as well. This last month has just been...I have no idea. My head has just NOT been screwed on properly._

_Enjoy the chapter._

* * *

Today was weird.

Not exactly a bad weird, but a "my world got turned on it's head" kind of weird.

So, like, since I got it into my head that laying myself out for him in his bed would be a good idea he's been... trying to...keep space between us without keeping space between us. Like he's trying to draw a line but can't figure out where to put it.

He just knows when I'm over it.

And it's not like I don't know I'm crossing it either, cause I WANT to be over the line. He's my Dave damnit and I want to spend every night in bed with him. Not just bad nights were we're either too tired to do anything, too beaten up, or both, even if we wanted to.

Not that I'm complaining about any chance I get to snuggle up with Dave in as little clothing as possible, take a shower with him, or have him massage my sore muscles. But come ON! Can he not see how great we get along? How perfect we are for each other? If I was the romantic sort I could even say that everything we've been through was just to get us together.

I mean, he's not stupid. He knows he wouldn't be taking advantage of me or corrupting me or any of that bullshit. And its not like he's going to get in trouble for it either. I mean, who would I tell? Well, aside from Angela. And Alice. Nobody that would get him in trouble. Hell, even if I went up to Marcus to tell him Dave'd fucked me so hard it's like my virginity never existed I wouldn't get past "Last night Dave and I" before he covered his ears and started humming.

Sometimes Marcus' insistence on remaining ignorant of what we get up to at night has it's advantages.

But yeah, I have no idea what Dave's problem is. Sometimes I just want to grab him and kiss him until he sees reason.

Anyway.

Dave called me today and said he needed my help, "Right now."

So of course I snapped right into Hit Girl mode and was like, "What's wrong? Where are you?"

And he started stuttering and said, "You won't believe me unless you see it yourself. Meet me at my house. My old house. My Dad's house." and then he hung up.

And I was standing there staring at my phone like, "What?"

So I got on my bike, rode over there as fast as I could, and when I get there Dave is sitting in the living room having a low grade panic attack or something. He was just sitting there, rocking in this chair holding this piece of cloth and quietly freaking out like an autistic who was just told he was gonna miss his favorite show.

And I came in and said, "Dave, what the hell is going on?"

And he looks up at me and says, "Dad is a super hero."

And I just stood there blinking and looking at him like, "What?"

I was like that a lot today

Eventually I managed to ask, "What?"

And he said, "Dad is a superhero!"

I took a moment to think about this, now that I knew I wasn't hallucinating. And then I said, "How do you know this?"

And he said, "Well, okay, so, Riley and I do our laundry here, cause the laundromats near her house are insane. They want like, five dollars to wash and six to dry, so we give my Dad a couple bucks and save some money."

And I said, "What does your laundry have to do with your Dad being a superhero?"

And he said, "I came here to do laundry and when I emptied the drier I found THIS!" and he shoved the cloth at me, which after I took a second to look at it I realized was a cape.

I said, "And... it's not just for like Halloween?"

And he gave me this look that said, "Really?"

So I said, "Well, maybe it's for his girlfriend. They could be kinky like that."

And Dave looked revolted for a minute before shaking his head and saying, "They broke up months ago."

I told him, "It still doesn't mean anything."

And he said, "But he could get killed! If anyone saw him in that the cunts would want to kill him just because!"

"So ask him. Tell him you want him to stop."

"But how am I supposed to do that when I'm going out and doing it myself every night?"

And I just looked at him and said, "Because you're young and in peak condition. He's old and out of shape."

He said, "He's not that old."

I said, "He's got gray hair."

He said, "Col Stars has more."

And I said, "And you didn't argue that he's not out of shape."

Dave sighed and just stared at the floor so I added, "And he's not being trained by the most awesome super hero in the city."

He laughed, once, at that, then said, "Okay, I'll talk to him about it."

So I said, "Okay, well, if that's all you needed me for then I'm gonna get going. I have phone calls to make and some more case files to look over."

But he asked me to stick around until his Dad came home and he talked to him, and, well, because it meant getting to spend a few hours with Dave I did.

While we were waiting, he asked why I'd never asked for his help with the case, and I just waved it off and told him, "It's complicated. I'd have to teach you how to read the reports before you could do anything with them and I've got a system worked out, you'd just fuck it up. Besides. you have an actual job, for some reason, and it gives me something to do when you're at work."

I left out that it had become kind of a thing for Marcus and I to do over the last couple of weeks. We haven't really had anything to do together since he started movie night.

But I told him about what we'd managed to figure out, and how the oldest murders we could find that we could fit to this went back about six years ago, to a couple that had been found in their apartment with their throats torn out like the guy in prison last month. There was a gap of a few months and then we started to find them pretty regularly, and it started in the city and then spread out with most of the ones in the last year being out in the sticks.

But then in the last six months we started finding more in the city.

And then Dave asked, "Is that because you were able to identify more victims, or because there were actually more murders?"

And then, again, I was like, "Wait, what?"

And I thought about it, and I realized that we hadn't put much thought into HOW the murders qualified, just whether they did or not. And I started thinking that most of the recent ones we were able to identify because they'd had the hearts cut out. Before that, there was no obvious choice for what piece of the body was taken, so there could be more murders recently OR there could have been more in the past that we missed.

And I said, "It could be both. Most of the recent ones were done with the same weapon. That giant apple corer thing."

And Dave just kinda gave me that weird smile he gives me and says, "You have a very casual but morbid way of thinking about things."

And I smiled back at him and said, "It's why you love me."

Then he said, "Have you checked out any of the vampire websites? I mean, this could be a vampire cult or something, if it is a cult."

And I was like, "What? You think these people think they're vampires?"

And he said, "Or they could think they're hunting vampires." then he paused and said, "But if that was the case they'd probably be taking the heads, not the hearts."

I just sat there for a moment and tried to wrap my head around that. It never occurred to me that these people could be that kind of crazy. I mean, I could understand them just being a bunch of psychos and hunting people for sport and taking trophies (but now that I say that hearts do seem like a weird trophy.) or even being demon worshipers or some other crazy god like... Kali or something, but vampires?

Nope.

So he said he'd look into it for me. Might even get Marty to help too.

Then he asked how the repairs and remodeling on the new training center were going.

I said, "Most of it is done. Just a few minor things we can do ourselves. And of course moving everything in. We can probably start training Angela and Katie tomorrow.

Dave grinned and said, "I'm actually really excited to see this place. I feel like it's taken forever to be ready but at the same time surprised it's already done."

"It's not COMPLETE yet," I reminded him, "It's just the major stuff that's done. Ya know, knocking down and replacing walls, fixing the floors and pipes. Putting in new electrical wiring, that sort of stuff. There'll be plenty of stuff for you to help with later."

Then Mr. L came in, and Dave shoved the cape behind his back. He looked over at us and said, "Oh! Hey Sport, Mindy. What brings you by?"

Dave looked at me like, "Is this seriously happening?" and I looked back at him like, "Yes, now go talk to him!"

So Dave got up and said, "Dad, we need to talk."

And he looked between us and said, "About what?"

Then Dave held up the cape and said, "This."

And Mr. L suddenly got all...shifty and said, "Let's go in the other room."

I didn't follow them. I just sat in the living room trying not to listen and thinking that when the inevitable "Why it's dangerous for you to be a superhero and why you should stop" conversation happened I never expected it would be _Dave_ giving it to his DAD. After a minute it became hard not listen to when Dave yelled, "You can't keep doing this!"

And his Dad said, "Look, I'm telling you I'm not in any danger, I only do it at work, and on the night shifts when I'm alone."

Then Dave said, "Dad, you're not getting this, do you know how many people would kill you just because you were walking around in a mask and cape?"

"No one is going to see me. I'm inside, at night, and I'm just trying to liven up my life a little."

"Liven up you- DAD! These people will want to KILL you! They don't care about who or why, they do this shit for FUN! They could break into your building just because they were BORED and if they saw you in this it'd be like wearing a sign that says, 'please beat me to death'!"

"You just don't understand-"

"What?! I don't UNDERSTAND!?"

"NO! You DON'T! You don't know what it's like to have lost your wife of twenty years! To have your Son grow up and not need you anymore! To have no reason to exist except to keep existing! I need something in my life Dave! I'm fifty one years old! No matter how you look at it, I've got more years behind me than ahead of me. I need to do something to add some LIFE to my life! I'm not stupid enough to go out on the streets like that, but when I'm alone at work, I can put the cape and mask on and pretend to be The Guarder and just... enjoy myself for a bit. I know it's silly, but it just... it gives me something to look forward to."

There was silence for a few minutes, and I thought that might be a good time for me to leave so Mr. L wouldn't know I'd heard him say all that, but then Dave said, "I do understand. Believe me. I understand what it's like to feel like your life has no meaning. No purpose. _Especially_ after Mom died. I had two friends, we were all outcasts. Girls ignored us. We had no plans, no goals. We just existed. I was just drifting through life, losing myself in pointless video games and comics like they meant something. Like they were actually important.

"I got sick of it too. I wanted to do something with my life. Make some sort of difference in the world."

There was another pause, but I didn't even think of leaving. I was too busy hanging onto my seat waiting to hear what he'd say next. Literally.

"So I did the same thing you did. Only I didn't do it in private. I went out in a costume to try and be a hero...and that's how I got hurt. That's how I ended up in the hospital. I tried to stop these two punks from stealing a car and they stabbed me, and then when I was trying to get away I got hit by a car. That much was true.

"And I didn't stop. After I recovered I went back out onto the street. And I can't even find words for some of the things I've seen. The horrible things people will do to others. I've been beaten, shot, stabbed, I can't tell you how many times I've almost been killed. So believe me, I know how dangerous it is out there. I know _much _better than you do. I've lost friends to these psychos Dad. I can't lose you too. I don't know what I'd do if I did. So please, promise me you won't do anything to draw attention to yourself, dressing up in a cape and mask. Even if it's just pretend. They won't care. They'll see it as an invitation."

And there was more silence...and then his Dad exploded.

"WHAT!? You're actually going out, IN THE STREET...IN COSTUME?! Are you INSANE!

Those people are PSYCHOS! Do you have ANY idea how INSANE this city has become?! There're riots in the fucking streets every other MONTH! Are you TRYING to get yourself KILLED?! You're not Kick-Ass Dave!"

And that's when I went, "Oh god no."

"No, Dad, I AM Kick-Ass. Literally. I am Kick-Ass. And I couldn't stop even if I wanted to. I started something huge, and I have a responsibility to see it through. I've been working and training with the best heroes in the city for over a year. I need to be out there. I know I'm not the best there is, but the world sees me as the figure head for this whole thing. I have to be there, doing good, keeping the people who want to do good and see the best in people encouraged, and showing the people that want to just take what they want or hurt who they want that people won't let them, and if that means I get into fights, then I'm gonna get into fights, and I'm gonna win. I have to."

I really don't know how long they were silent after that, because my brain just kinda went "whaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaat the fuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuck"

Eventually, Mr. L said, "You... YOU, are Kick-Ass? The real life super hero? And you go out, at night, and beat people up."

Another pause, and then, "Yes."

"And that was you, tied to a chair, getting beaten to death, live on the internet?"

"Yes."

"And you're the guy on all the news casts the morning after one of those riots, fighting with those wack jobs attacking people and stealing and destroying things."

"One of them, yes."

"And you're part of that Justice Forever group, that does the community service? Running blood drives, helping at soup kitchens, that sort of stuff?"

"Yes."

"And you're the reason there are dozens of people going out in costume and doing the same."

"And the reason the Motherfucker exists, yes."

There was a thump and the squeak of a chair getting shoved across tile, and then his Dad said, "I have no idea what to say."

Dave said, "How about, 'I promise not to follow my son's insane example and not do anything that could get me killed because he does, in fact, need me'?"

And then Mr. L said, "Dave... I love you, so much. I look at you and I still see the little boy I read comics to when he was sick. But I can see the man you've become, and he's so much more than I ever realized. I'm not gonna lie, I don't want you doing anything that could get you hurt, let alone killed... But I am proud of you. You've actually changed the world. Not many people can say that. You've gone out and shown everyone the difference one person can make. How can I help?"

Dave laughed, and it sounded like he was half crying, and he said, "How about you start by just making sure you stick around for a few dozen more years, okay?"

Then his Dad laughed and he said, "Yeah, I think I can do that."

They came out a minute later, and Mr. L looked at me and after a moment said, "So, I guess that means you're Hit Girl?"

And I was just like, "Godfuckingdamnit." but I just kinda went "fuck it" and said, "Yeah, I am. And just because you're Dave's Dad don't think I wont hurt you if you spill it."

Then he held up his hands and said, "Whoa, hold on, no need to make threats. You're like the Daughter I never had. I'd die before I gave either of you up."

And, for some reason, that just made me feel really good. All warm and fuzzy. Almost like Dave's hugs do. And I said, because obviously today was the day where all bets are off, "Can I give you a hug?"

And he laughed and said, "Yeah. It seems like that kind of day."

So I went over and hugged him and said, "I will hurt you though if you do spill. But I'll kill anyone who hurts you."

And he laughed and said, "Good to know."

So, then we sat down, and just talked. Mr. L wanted to hear about everything we'd been doing, but we left out some of the more incriminating details, just in case. He loved hearing about the more public servicey things Justice Forever got up to and started asking if he could help.

Obviously we said he didn't need our permission to volunteer at soup kitchens and crap, even if we were working that day too.

Of course, what he really meant was how could he help Justice Forever. We said we'd talk about it with the Colonel.

Then, because it was just that kind of day, I decided, "Might as well," and asked if he'd like to help with the new training facility. "Ya know, installing shelves, assembling equipment, that sort of thing."

And he said, "Now that's the sort of thing I'm good at."

So I told him I'd let him know when the place was ready for the final stages.

I'm starting to get really excited about this. Especially because tomorrow I get to start beating the crap out of Katie on a daily basis.


	203. Chapter 203

_**Mako's Message: **So! New chapter. Same week. Hell yeah. ... At least I think it's the same week. Is it the same week? I have no sense of time anymore._

_Anyway, the chapter took an unexpected turn for the fluffy and I hope you all enjoy._

* * *

Today was a good day.

"Why?" you might be asking. I'll give you the answer in the form of a question.

What's Black and Blue and Red all over?

Katie Deauxma!

Unfortunately the red was just from mat burns, not blood.

Still, I got to beat the fuck out of Katie and Dave didn't stop me. It was awesome!

I told Katie to join us for our morning jog since that first time. The bitch actually kept up better than Angela.

Anyway, we jogged to the new training center. There's not much there yet. Just some mats and a refrigerator full of gatorade and power bars. They were still impressed by it. All three of them are seriously excited to see the place when it's finished.

When we started training, I told them their first lesson would be how to fall down.

And then I spent the next hour knocking them on their ass. Or their face. It was a lot of fun. For me.

I'm not a sadist though, I had Dave help me give them a couple demonstrations on how to fall without getting hurt first. It's not MY fault they're slow learners.

After the first hour I gave them a five minute break then a choice. We could either keep learning about falling, or I could work on evaluating their fighting skills.

They chose to have me evaluate them. I found it funny that they'd rather hit my fist with their face than hit the floor with their ass. But that's what they wanted, so that's what we did.

After the first minute I got the impression that they hadn't understood what I meant. But they'd made their choice and had to deal with it.

I wasn't TOO rough on them though. I mean, I didn't use my feet or knees on them or anything like that.

So, after they both couldn't get up anymore, I spent the next ten minutes going over the basics of what they were doing wrong. Then I told them to practice against each other while I worked with Dave, and that if one of them hadn't hit the mat at least once in the first five minutes I was going to come back and REALLY kick the crap out of them.

I didn't say I wasn't going to do anything permanent to them though, because I think they're both starting to think I will, and I want them to keep thinking like that for awhile.

Katie was definietly more hesitant about hitting Angela than Angela was about hitting Katie. They both got over it pretty quickly though.

While Dave and I were working on a disarm, I kept catching him glancing over at them, and it was really starting to annoy me so I finally called him on it. He looked over at them again as Angela and Katie were trying to force each other's arm behind their back, and then back at me, smiling like a dork and asked, "Is it wrong that I'm enjoying watching that?"

I glanced over as Katie seemed to win, but then Angela took one ofher legs out from under her and they both fell to the mat and started grinding Katie's face into the mat. I looked back at him and said, "If it is, I don't wanna be right."

Then I punched him in the side of the head and said, "But you need to focus."

Whenever it looked like they were lagging, I went over and kicked Angela and Katie around until they got back on their feet. When they were too worn out to get back up, I said, "I hope by now you've realized that I'm doing this for a purpose."

And Angela guessed, "You're trying to make us give up?"

I said, "Well, yes, but I'd still be doing this part even if I wasn't."

Then Katie said, "It's because on the street we wont be allowed to rest. We have to fight until we win."

The fact that Katie got it right annoyed me, and I glared at her as I said she was, but I guess I shouldn't really be surprised. She's actually been out on the streets and gotten into real fights. I also added, "And you're not going to be up against just one, or even two people. You could easily be up against three to five people at a time, or more. And you may not be able to call it a night after winning one. Especially if you're going to work with Justice forever or fight against The Motherfucker and The Cunts. You could have one fight after another after another after another. Or just one huge fight that seems to never end. That was a taste of that. You sure you want to keep going?"

They both nodded so I showed them how to throw a proper punch, set them up with a mat, and told them to do twenty striked with each hand, then switch, and keep doing that until I told them to stop.

It was kinda weird after that, because it actually started to feel normal. Dave and I were doing our thing, and Angela and Katie where over there punching the crap out of the mat.

When I called a lunch break they'd both beaten their hands red and raw, almost to the point of bleeding. Shame they didn't, I would have actually been impressed with them if they had.

I sent Katie out to this coffee shop/cafe thing down the street to get some sandwiches, and while she was gone I sat down with Dave against the wall and asked Angela if she wanted to keep going, cause it was only going to get harder. She said, "If you can do it, I can do it."

I grinned at that, and Dave said, "Ha! I dunno. Mindy's a breed apart."

And with how good I was feeling already that almost made me blush. I snuggled up to him and he put his arm around me and his hand on my shoulder, but then he put it on the floor beside us and I was like, "godamnit"

Dave had his eyes closed so he didn't see Angela put her hands together by her face and look at us like, "Aww, how cute."

I gave her the finger.

When Katie came back we ate and I gave them an idea of what I had planned, and for them to meet up with us the next morning on the same route we took today for another session.

After that, Dave had to get ready for work, so we called an end to it. Katie left pretty quick, and Angela asked if I wanted to go to the pool with her to cool off. A swim sounded good so we went, but when Angela went to change into her suit she saw how bruised she was and decided against it.

So we spent the rest of the afternoon at her house watching TV and doing "normal", until it was about time for Marcus to get home and I left to go work on the case with him some more.

He brought Chinese and we didn't even bother taking it out of the boxes. It was awesome.

When we decided we weren't going to make any more progress that night, he started asking me about my day, and when I started telling him about training Angela and Katie he actually listened to me. When I told him about the "teaching you to fall down" part, he laughed and said, "I bet you enjoyed that."

So then I asked him about his day, and he said he wasn't allowed to tell me about a lot of it, but he gave me some vague details, like how this one case was giving him hell, and how they caught this other guy who wanted as part of a car theft ring.

I said, "Obviously a group not working with D'amico or anyone."

And he just kinda stopped for a second and said, "You're right, actually. They have no known affiliations with any larger organized crime families. I've actually enjoyed working on this one, since the department is actually functioning the way it's supposed to."

And I said, "Well, hopefully D'amico wont be around for much longer and things can be a little more like they're supposed to."

And he laughed and said, "Amen to that."

So yeah. Today was a good day. In a lot of ways.


	204. Chapter 204

_**Mako's Message:** __The game doesn't exist. It comes from _Bloons Tower Defense 5_, where one of the special towers is called the "Angry Squirrel". With a little bit of _Angry Birds_ for flavor. I developed a lot more of the game than I mentioned, but unless one of you is a game developer I don't see how that matters. Enjoy!_

* * *

I'm going to fucking kill Todd.

He got me playing this stupid cell phone game, Angry Squirrel Tree Defense, and I haven't been able to put the damn thing down all night. I'm not even sure if there's any point going to sleep. I might as well just go make breakfast and get an early start on my work out.

I seriously cannot understand how squirrels using slingshots to defend their tree from birds can be so fucking addictive. I didn't even realize how late it was until I lost because Eagles started coming in and taking all my squirrels.

A good clue would have been when Marcus came in to say goodnight.. Bastard could barely restrain his laughter.

I'm glad we didn't go on patrol last night. I might have done something stupid like tried to play the damn thing "while it was quiet".

Fuck I'm tired.

I dunno if I'm gonna be up for what I had planned for them today, but going to sleep for only a couple hours might just make it worse.

Maybe I'll just have to borrow one of Dave's Five Hour Energys if our jog doesn't wake me up.

Today was good though, aside from Todd getting me hooked another stupid video game.

The jog to our new training center with Katie and Angela went well. I think they were both too sore to complain. Or maybe they just knew better.

Anyway, when we got there we took a short break then I took them through a basic warm up and had them show me what I taught them yesterday.(I only knocked them down a couple times), and then gave them some moves to practice while I worked with Dave.

It was fun watching them work together. They came real close to turning the exercises into real fights. Dave had to pull my attention back to what we were doing a few times.

Once we started sparing though, it was Angela and Katie that were stopping to watch us.

When Dave and I finished our spar, they started clapping. I actually kinda liked Katie applauding me. Then Angela said, "That was amazing. How long did it take you to get as good as Mindy?"

And Dave and I just looked at each other and burst out laughing. I mean really, Dave as good as me? That's hilarious! We actually had tears in our eyes by the time we pulled ourselves together. Hell, I could barely stand!

Dave was the one who pulled it together enough to say, "Oh god. Me as good as Mindy? Ah man, I wish! I don't know if I'll ever catch up. She just keeps getting better."

I said, "Aww, thanks. It helps to have a great sparring partner. And lots off criminal assholes to kick the shit out of. Here, lemme show you what I can really do."

And then Dave completely stopped laughing and said, "Uh, wait, do you-"

And I said, "Yeah, I'm gonna not hold back, well, ya know, aside from not trying to kill you."

He said "Yeah, that makes me feel so much better," and he settled into a fighting stance.

I said, "Oh stop being such a pussy or I'll stuff a tampon down your throat."

And then he said, "Oh this is gonna suck," and came at me.

Dave is actually better than I was giving him credit for. I'm so used to being better than him that I didn't even notice he hadn't been going full out against me. If I'm a ten, and the average street punk is a two or a three, I'd figured Dave was about a five or six. He's more like a seven though. Maybe an eight if I'm feeling generous.

Anyway, he surprised me, but I was going at about 95% so he didn't last long.

He did this real nice feint into a low reverse backhand, but I rolled over his shoulder and kicked off his back and then spun and kicked him in the back of the head in mid air. That could have been bad for him, but I've trained him well, so he was rolling away from the kick long before it connected. I just kinda grazed him. Barely felt the contact.

I turned my landing into a forward roll and as he came back to his feet and turned around I hit him in the jaw with a handspring kick that took him completely off his feet.

I tucked in and flipped and landed with my knees on either side of his head.. I took a moment to admire the view and burn it into my memory while he tried to shake off the stars and birdies.

After a couple seconds he said, "Damnit Mindy, I thought you said you WEREN'T trying to kill me!"

"I wasn't. If I was I'd have landed ON your neck, snapping your neck and killing you instantly. Or at least crushing your larynx and leaving you to slowly suffocate while chocking on your own blood.. You know that you goof." and then I pulled his head up by his hair and bopped him back to the mat.

When I stood up Angela and Katie were staring at me in awe and I just smirked at them.

When Dave stood up he said, "I think you might have broken my jaw."

And I said, "No, I didn't. I'd have felt it break if I had. You'll be fine. And if I had, hey, it'd be an opportunity to get some more metal plates in you. We'll turn you into a real Wolverine eventually"

And he was still looking like a kicked puppy so I said, "Okay, how about I let you show off a bit now?"

And he looked at me all suspicious and asked, "How?"

And I said, "We can do that thing where you lie down and-"

And Dave cut me off with, "No!"

And I was like, "What? Why not? You kept wanting to do it when we found out you could."

"Well, yeah, but that was before-" and he shut his mouth real quick and I saw his eyes shoot towards Katie and Angela before coming back to me and I knew exactly what he was talking about. We hadn't done that since my little adventure in his bedroom. The first one.

Actually, I don't think we've done it since my Birthday.

Anyway, I said, "Oh don't be such a baby. Man up and make up for getting your ass kicked by showing off just how strong you are."

And he said, "You just want to do it because you get to show off too."

So I said, "Well it's still really cool. You wanna do it or not?"

And he huffed, and sighed, and rolled his eyes and then he said, "Fine," and lay down on the floor.

Then I stood over him, and he took my hands and I flipped into a handstand with my hands in his and he started doing benchpresses with me.

I heard Angela whistle, and then he looked up and me and he must have known exactly what I was thinking because he stopped halfway down and said, "Don't even think about trying to kiss me."

And I said, "Aww, you're no fun."

He said, "I'll drop you."

I said, "I'll land on my feet. Or on you."

Then Angela said, "That is SO cool! Do me!"

And I looked at her like, "Seriously?"

And she looked right back and said, "Please?"

So I rolled my eyes, said, "Fine" and flipped off.

Then Angela came over and did the same thing I did and started giggling like mad. Katie kept watching and I said, "Don't even think about asking."

And she looked at me all wide eyes and said, "I wasn't!"

But I know she was.

So after we wrapped up training, Katie went wherever Katie goes, and Dave and Angela and I went to Atomic comics to meet up with Marty and Todd, which is where the rest of my day disappeared in a blur of birds, squirrels, and acorns.

And now the sun is up. Fuck my life.


	205. Chapter 205

_**Mako's Message: **This was supposed to be up Friday. FRIDAY. But I dunno... I'm suffering from creative constipation or something. The ideas are there, but they aren't coming out. _

_Which reminds me, be sure to like my page,_ Makokam Productions,_ on Facebook._

_Anyway, this chapter is dedicated to TorontoBatFan because it contains something he's been asking for for AGES._

_It also contains the scene that made me decide I HAD to do a "Mindy Trains Katie" arc._

_Enjoy!_

* * *

It's finished. It's _finally _FINISHED.

Everything is remodeled exactly how I wanted it. The showers, the loft, the windows, the kitchen and workshop, I even have my secret escape hatches! Man that was a bitch to arrange. Making sure the guys working on the outside didn't know about what was going on on the inside was harder than I thought.

Still, everything works in the training center, the rooms on the fourth floor have been cleaned up and the first floor is ready for renting. Even have the adds placed.

Of course, just because everything was installed and functional doesn't mean it was ready. We still had to move all our stuff in. And man, was _that_ a lot of fun.

Sarcasm doesn't really come across in text, does it?

Actually, it wasn't that bad. Aside from the fact that I've been up since before dawn.

I had Dave come by before anything else with one of his energy drinks, and I used it to make a banana-berry smoothie(Not my favorite thing in the world, but not bad either.), which got me through the morning pretty easily. I can almost understand why he drinks the things so much.

Anyway, as much as I was enjoying watching Angela and Katie learning to fight each other, I'd decided it was time for something a little different.

So, Dave and I took them to nearby basketball court to work on agility and evasion techniques. By playing dodgeball.

It was a free for all game, where we tallied up points instead knocking each other out because with only four of us there wasn't much point to that. Besides, I'd have won every time.

I still won, if were were really trying to win. I just wanted them to start getting a feel for what it meant to be fast on their feet and how to get the hell out of the way of somebody trying to hit them with something.

Cause seriously, people will just pick up anything and throw it at you. Forget bottles and bricks, I've had people throw entire trash cans at me, handfuls of coins, one guy even threw a sandwich at me.

No pies though. Nobody's thrown a pie at me. Not yet at least. I'm sure it'll happen eventually.

Anyway, it was everybody against everybody and it was going pretty well until about halfway through, when Katie looked at me and said, "I think you're enjoying this way too much."

And I said to her, "You think I'm doing this for fun? I can think of dozens of things I'd rather be doing than this. You should be grateful that I'm taking time away from my own life and training to try and make you not pathetic." And then I hit her in the face with the ball.

I was having a little fun.

It really was almost boring though. Angela and Katie were no challenge at all to hit, and it was way to easy to dodge their throws.

Even Dave was only able to hit me once, and that was because I was too busy laughing my ass off after Katie got knocked on her face after the ball bounced off of Angela to notice the ball coming at me next. Captain America would have been proud of that throw.

Eventually we worked Angela and Katie into the ground, even managed to get Dave a little tired. I don't know what I was cause I was still kinda loopy from being up all night and still kinda buzzing from my energy drink smoothie.

We went to the sandwich place near our building, Patti's Picnic, which is a really weird sort of place. It tries really hard to be a hippy health-food place with all sorts of grass juices and smoothies and stuff, but the best stuff they have is cupcakes and chocolates. I swear they must have a professional baker back there or something.

Anyway, we actually ate with Katie, and it was amusing to see her sitting off to the side all awkward and shit. Probably the first time she hasn't had friends since ever.

I actually liked it a lot.

She heard me talking to Dave and Angela about "decorating" our new place though, and asked if she could help. My first thought was "No fucking way", because there is no way in hell I want her touching my equipment. But then my second thought was, "Slave labor."

So I looked at her and smiled and said, "Sure."

Everything I'd ordered for our new training center was waiting for us on the first floor. Most of it was covered in plastic since the contractors had to work around it, which got some bitching out of them, but it was better than having to wait for the work to be done and THEN having it delivered.

And I gotta say, seeing all the weapon crates made me as giddy as a schoolgirl.

Yeah, I kinda went a little nuts when it came to buying equipment.

Anyway, I had Angela go up and start putting the peg hooks in the peg board while, Dave, Katie and I started carrying stuff up.

I carried almost all the weapons up myself, since most of the furniture was too bulky for me to get a good grip on. I actually had to let Katie help Dave with a couple of them because she has a longer reach than me and is actually stronger than Angela.

I was really surprised by that to be honest. Katie might be taking this more seriously than I thought.

So, we started assembling the equipment and I took the opportunity to give them a crash course on weapons maintenance. Katie didn't seem too comfortable working with the guns, so she spent more time hanging the melee weapons up and then putting the kitchen appliances in.

After about an hour, Dave looked over everything and said, "Ya know, this is going to take us all night by ourselves. Why don't we see if any of Justice Forever is free to help out?"

And I said, "No! I want this place to be a surprise. They can't see it until it's one hundred percent."

So then Dave said, "Well, what about just John then? He saw this place when it was a complete shit hole. And my Dad? He has today off and I he'd love to help."

And then Katie went, "Wait! Your DAD knows?! Since when?!"

And Dave and I looked at each other said, "Like, two...three days now?"

She asked how he found out and Dave and I looked at each other again and just said, "It's a long story."

Then I said, "We might as well ask Marty over too."

And Katie asked, "What about Todd?"

I said, "Todd doesn't know and that's the way I want to keep it."

Angela sat up and "Wait, why not?"

"Because he doesn't think before he speaks."

She looked over at Dave and he shrugged and said, "I love the guy, but it's true."

So, we called Mr. L and asked him over and he was almost too happy to come over. He wanted to know if there was anything we needed him to bring and I was about to say we had everything we needed, but then Dave said, "Actually, we're gonna need a ladder," and I looked up at our fucking twenty foot ceiling and realized we had stuff to hang up there and I'd completely neglected to get anything that would let us do that and I felt like a goddamn idiot. So I politely asked if he could get us a ladder before he came over and promised to pay him back.

Marty wasn't so sure about it, but we assured him that coming over to help in no way required him to get involved in any heroics, costumed or otherwise.

Mr. L got there about an hour later with the ladder, right about the same time Marcus decided to drop by and see the place for the first time ever. With no warning. In uniform.

It might have been funny if it didn't look like Dave's Dad was going to have a heart attack.

We'd buzzed him up and he was just starting to open the door, when Marcus came up behind him like, "Caz?"

And Mr. L dropped the ladder and slammed the door shut and turned around like, "Oh! Marcus! Hey. So, uh, how're you doing?"

Obviously Dave got his acting skills from his Mom.

And Marcus said, "I'm...good. What're you doing here?"

And Mr. L said, "Oh, I'm just here doing some, uh, volunteer work. What're you doing here?"

So Marcus was like, "Uh-huh... Well, I came by to see Mindy's new club house. She hasn't been able to shut up about it all week."

Then Mr. L was like, "Wait, what?"

And Marcus said, "Her training safehouse headquarters thing."

And Mr. L was like, "You know?"

And Marcus laughed and said, "I live with the girl man. I took her in after her Father died. Of course I know. I'm surprised it took you this long to figure it out."

It took a minute but then Dave's Dad said, "Dave and I don't see much of each other."

Then it was Marcus's turn to change the subject, "So, uh, what's the ladder for?"

And then Mr. L said, "Oh, they have stuff they need to hang from the ceiling, but Mindy forgot to get a ladder."

Then Marcus chuckled and said, "Yeah, that sounds like Mindy."

Bastard.

Anyway, so we stopped listening at the door and opened it up and I said, "Well, if you want to stand out in the hall all day that's fine, but we need that ladder."

So they were like, "Oh hey!" and "Alright, let's see this place," then they came in and Mr. L was like, "Oh wow..." and Marcus was like, "I shouldn't have come here," and covered his eyes with his hands and looked like he was trying to pull his face off.

Marcus did hang around for a little bit though, and before he left he said, "This really is nice set up you have here Mindy, keep it a secret." and he gave me a quick little hug.

It's weird. I don't know when it happened, but Marcus and I feel like we've gotten a LOT closer lately.

Anyway, we spent the rest of afternoon putting the furniture together for the living/sleeping area, and bolting stuff to the ceiling and walls, like the salmon ladder and the hanging rings.

We ended up ordering a pizza, and we made Katie go wait outside for it. She came back with flowers.

All she'd say was that someone gave them to her.

We finally finished up after dark. We took Angela home, then they his Dad dropped us off at my house. Dave walked me in, and we talked with Marcus a bit about the cult killers before he went to bed, then Dave left.

So today was very long, but productive, and I need to go to sleep because I'm getting really fucking loopy.


	206. Chapter 206

_**Mako's Message: **I really enjoyed writing this chapter. Almost too much. Every time I tried to wrap it up I'd end up going into a whole other thing. On the up side, this gets you a bigger than usual chapter. On the down side, that means you're getting this about two days later than intended. Of course, I also got pleasantly distracted by things over the past couple of day. Like, when I took my son to the library, instead of working on the chapter I ended up reading _Batman: Year One _and _Batman: Noel_. Noel, if you haven't heard of it(which I hadn't until I pla_yed Arkham Origins_), is an interesting retelling of _A Christmas Carol_. It's an interesting story, and far from perfect, but it's very much worth a read. And now I've been spirited away by my father to help fix up our poor neglected cabin._

_Anyway, enough of my rambling, you've waited long enough. _

_Enjoy!_

* * *

I got it. I FINALLY got it. It feels like I've been waiting FOREVER.

I know it hasn't really been that long, but still, it feels like I've been waiting for this for YEARS.

God, when I finally got to wrap my hands around it... It felt better than I ever imagined. It's like it was molded to my hands. I literally spent all day playing with it.

Well, most of the day. We had to stop and clean the place up for our grand unveiling to the rest of Justice Forever.

I mean, seriously, we made a total mess of the place. Everything was sticky.

I didn't mind at the time, but dear GOD did I need a shower afterward. It was all over me and in my hair. Ugh.

Seeing Katie freak out afterward was hilarious too.

When I came out after my shower, she was like, "AAAAHHH!" and pointing and she just kept gasping and making noises.

I waited a few seconds to see if she was going to say something intelligent(Which would have been a small miracle) then said, "What? Spit it out."

And she said, "I bought him that shirt!"

And Dave looked over and said, "Oh, so that's where it went."

Katie spun around and was like, "You aren't BOTHERED by this?"

And Dave shrugged and said, "It was annoying the first couple of times but I just stopped worrying about it after the third or fourth times."

Katie looked like her head was about explode when she said, "The THIRD or FOURTH times?! How many shirts has she stolen from you!"

That's when I said, "Excuse me, I don't steal his shirts. I borrow them. After awhile they stop smelling like him and I give it back and take a new one."

Then she looked back at Dave like, "Are you fucking serious?"

And Dave said, "Well, I didn't know WHY she taking them."

"Why THE FUCK did you THINK she was taking them!? Why did you think **I** took your shirts?!"

The best part of this was Angela just sitting in the kitchen drinking some Gatorade like, "None of my business."

I think Katie wished she had more coconuts to throw at me right about then.

In a strange way, I actually kinda like seeing Katie angry at me. She was always so calm and sweet. This perfect pretty princess, and then she was always afraid of me, like I was going to cut her open and drag her through the streets by the guts. One of the many things I'd thought about doing to her.

Now though, seeing her wanting to, I dunno, claw my eyes out or something. I would love her to try. Like seriously. Aside from getting to kick her around for it, it'd be nice to see something REAL from her.

Anyway, once we finished cleaning up from playing Fruit Ninja: The Home Game, we all suited up to show the place to the rest of Justice Forever. Except for Angela, who doesn't have a suit. I let her wear one of my spare wigs and masks. It took forever to show her how she had to tie her hair back to get the wig on properly.

It was weird, honestly, being in costume in the Clubhouse(I decided to go with Marcus's name for it, since it was never meant to be a real safehouse, it's not JUST a training center, and it's not set up to be a meeting place. Not the way our HQ is. So.. The Clubhouse). I mean, we've been working in it for awhile now in just our civies. It felt weird to be there in costume. Especially with Angela tagging along in one of my wigs.

Anyway, Angela and Katie waited out in the hall, so we could let them all in at once. Dave and I were trying to be all serious and bad ass looking when they came in, but then Dr. Gravity came in, dropped his jaw on the floor, pulled his goggles up and said, "By the power of Greyskull..." and I almost died.

John laughed and said, "This is amazing! The last time I saw this place I was worried I'd fall through the floor, now it looks like you could fight a war from in here!"

I said, "Well, not really. Everything is reinforced, but the guns are mostly decorative. there's only enough ammo to load each of these guns twice."

Insect Guy, who was still in the "Wandering Around in Awe" phase, snapped out of it long enough to scoff and say, "'Only' she says."

So then I lead them around, showed them the exercise equipment, the locker room, the workshop, the kitchen, and finally the upstairs living area. It's really not much. A couple small coffee tables, some armchairs, two futon couches, and a bunch of folding cots against the wall. They all seemed to like it a lot though. Especially the way you could look out over the exercise floor.

Alice kicked at the glass under the railing and asked, "This bulletproof?"

I just gave her this "are you stupid?" look and said, "Of course it is."

Sting came up then and looked over the room and said, "What's with the beams?"

I grinned at him and said, "I was wondering if anyone was going to ask about that. Those are the support beams for what used to be the third floor. Now they lead to the emergency escape hatches."

Alice and Sting looked around for a minute then she said, "Okay, I give, where are the hatches?"

I grinned and said, "Hidden behind the drywall. You run out along the beam, turn at either the first or second one, preferably the second one if more people need to get out after you, and then you just punch through the dry wall and it's a pretty standard fire door. Only opens from this side and it's drywalled and wall papered over on the other side. The third floor hallway is just a hallway. Pretty neat huh?"

"It's a nice set up, I'll give you that."

"So, how do we get to use this place? Do we each get a key?" Dr Gravity came over and said, ruining my mood, because honestly I haven't figured that out yet. I don't know if its a good thing or not but part of me doesn't want to trust these people with the keys or codes, cause they could give them up. And I don't like the idea of using something like a thumbprint because I can't help thinking how easy it is to cut a finger off.

I keep trying to think of some sort of code system, where they'd have to figure it out every time, but they'd still need a key, and if they didn't someone else would be able to figure it out.

Maybe a random collection of identifying information...

Fuck that'd be complicated.

Anyway, I told them that, for the moment, they'd be able to come in and work with us any time between 8am and 2pm.

Dr. Gravity wasn't too pleased with that, since his job starts at 9, and with travel time, would leave him with about half an hour at best. And trying on his lunch break would give him enough time to walk in, say "Hi" and then leave. He said he'd be better off with his current gym membership.

As much as I like this place, I don't really feel like spending all day there, so I pointed out that he could always come in on weekends. Then added that once I started school again I'd have to come in the evening myself and that cheered him up a bit.

Right after he said, "Oh right, I keep forgetting how young you are."

It kinda sucks that the best chance I'd have for getting Dave to fuck me seems to be to have never known him personally.

In which case I wouldn't want him to.

It's like the world is conspiring to keep me from getting laid.

So once everyone had had a good look around I called them all back down to the exercise floor so I could show off my new toy.

I waved Dave over to help me and he said, "This isn't going to be full contact, is it?"

So I said, "Depends, are you going to be a little bitch about it?"

And he was like, "Ugh, fine, let's just go," and he drew his batons and charged me.

Dave was holding back, but he was coming at me just hard enough to push me, so I didn't punish him for it. My new staff is so light, I was actually worried it wouldn't have much impact. Especially since it's hollow. But judging by Dave's reactions, I think it'll do just fine. Probably one of those basic physics things. Mass times Speed equals force and shit. It's lighter, so I can swing it faster, so it hits just as hard if not harder. I can also maneuver easier, which is really nice.

The only thing I could complain about is that it's just a little long for me, but as long as I don't stop growing any time soon I should be fine.

So, once I realized we'd settled into a pattern of strikes I decided it was time to notch it up a bit and hit the switch that made the sheathes retract, revealing the twenty three inch blades.

That got some nice gasps, "ooh"s and "Aah"s out of them.

Dave huffed and then threw the sheaths off of his blades and... he tricked me. Sorta. I didn't expect him to throw the sheaths at me, since it could damage our new stuff when it didn't hit me, and he didn't...not really. He let them fly off at a downward angle and it took me until it was almost too late to realize that he'd aimed it at my foot.

It almost tripped me, but I turned it into a cartwheel kick so I came out on top of that. Dave still knew he almost caught me with it, so he smirked at me anyway.

So a few moves later Dave came at me with a double overhand strike, and I blocked it, holding my butterfly sword up with both hands, and I thought, "Well, this is a perfect opportunity" and twisted the handle, the sword came apart, and I pushed through and headbutted Dave in the face.

He fell back swearing and holding his nose, and he said, "I think you broke my nose"

I told him I hadn't, and I've have felt it if I had and then helped him to his feet while Alice came over and started checking and giving him a bandage to hold over his bleeding nose.

I told him he did good and gave him a pat on the back while everyone else applauded and asked questions about my new toy. And I only call it a toy even though it's EXTREMELY serious business because I can't think of anything else that applies to it.

I love the fucking thing though. Not only is it the perfect fucking weapon for me, it's designed to look all techy and shit. The handle looks like a fucking lightsaber.

I think I actually like this thing better than I would a real lightsaber. That'd just make things too easy.

Even if it would be really cool.

So after that we just... hung out. It was fun. We ordered pizza again. It was kind of a party really. Like a Grand Opening or something.

So yeah. Good day. Lot's of fun.

Now that this is all finished though I think it's time I focused my attention on these cult killings. They're seriously overdue for an ass kicking.


	207. Chapter 207

_**Mako's Message:** This chapter gave me some problems in concept, but I finally figure out how to do it._

_And then when I actually started writing it... it started going in some interesting directions. It's kinda funny hearing Mindy be a complete 13-year-old-girl over something a 13-year-old-girl should NOT be thinking about. But I'm sure plenty do._

_Anyway, ENJOY! And remember, your reviews are the only thing keeping me out of the liquor cabinet.  
_

* * *

I think I'm tired of being angry. Is that possible? To just be so constantly mad at someone and want them dead at your feet that eventually you just don't feel it anymore? That whatever new thing they do just doesn't phase you anymore?

Or maybe I'm in shock. I suppose that's possible but I kinda doubt it. I mean, yeah, this was pretty bad but it's hardly the worst thing he's done. I mean, it's not like anybody DIED this time.

It's just hard to want to kill him any more than I already do. I think I've maxed out my anger. Or something. Which is weird cause you'd think I'd be livid about him destroying our HQ, John's bar, and his home.

Which is why I think I've just reached a point where I can't pack in any more hate. I mean, after a certain point there's only so much you can do to a person to make them pay. Then you're just abusing a corpse. Even if you're using life support. And you can only torture someone for so long before they become numb to it. They go into shock, their nerves stop firing...

Though, I suppose it would make for an interesting hobby. Having Chris strung up in a back room on life support so I could go in and vent whatever frustrations I have on him for a while.

What would be really nice is if I had that machine from The Prestige and could make endless clones of him that thought they were the real thing so I could make him watch me torture and kill him in all kinds of ways. That would be so much fun. I could disembowel him, and like, hang the guts of the one I'm disemboweling on another one. Like, "Here, hold this." Or make him watch as I feed him feet first into a wood chipper.

Oh, this would be awesome, I could make him fuck himself. Turn him into a one man human centipede of anal rape or something.

Jeez, with an endless supply of Chris D'Amico's to play with the possibilities are endless as well.

Shame that machine doesn't exist.

If it did I could make my own Dave while I'm at it. Then Riley and I could both have him and everyone would be happy.

Or I could make two Daves. Oh man that would be so awesome.

Hell, I could make three! Or Four!

No, four is...well... maybe four could work. That'd be really complicated though. Probably more trouble than it's worth.

Anyway, I'm letting John stay in the clubhouse for a while since his place caught fire. I'm not happy about it, but what was I gonna do? NOT let him? We just need to find a new place for him to live and have our meetings soon. The Clubhouse was NOT meant to be a meeting place. It's a training center and emergency fallback point.

The worst part about that is that I can't even be really mad at... yeah, okay, I can be mad at Chris over it. It's his fault. He just didn't do it _intentionally_. Though he probably would have anyone.

I think he's getting desperate though. Which has it's good side and bad side. I mean, if he's desperate then we're winning. But with what he's done already, it worries me what he might do out of desperation.

I think he's out of heavy hitters at least. We haven't seen anyone in an actual outfit since Samantha killed The Great White.

…

Anyway, as much as the guy pisses me off, I guess I should be glad that John has kept a...working relationship with The Guardian. Things could have gone a lot differently if he hadn't been there already. By the time Dave and I got there after the distress call went out, and we were the first to get there, it was already over.

The floor was literally covered in bodies. Most were unconscious, a few were awake but broken, and all of were cuffed.

Except for one. The high point of the night. He was clinging to one of the exposed pipes running from ceiling to floor, crying "Get him off! Get him off!" as Teddy savaged his leg.

That little pup is getting pretty big too. I wish we knew how old he was so we could guess at how close he is to full grown. He's almost as big the average dog now. He's still a big, adorable, cuddly, ball of fluff though. At least when he's not covered in blood. He looked like something out of a Stephen King novel until we got him washed and fluffed up again.

The Guardian seemed fine. As far as I know he came away with nothing more than a couple bruises.

John on the other hand... He wasn't seriously hurt, but he got banged up more than The Guardian and... I don't think I've ever seen him look so old before. Even when we saw him in the hospital he seemed so...vital.

When I went to talk to him, he looked up at me said, "I'm too old for this shit." Then he laughed weakly and said, "Never wanted to say that and be serious."

We dragged all the cunts out into the alley and called the cops to come pick them up.

That was when we noticed something was burning. We don't know what started it, but it must have been burning real slow until it found the alcohol, or something, because it went from "Do you smell smoke?" to inferno in about five seconds.

We managed to save most of the irreplaceable stuff. Samantha and Steve's helmets for example. Yeah, finally got around to looking at the name plate under the helmet.

We grabbed a couple computers, some newspaper clippings and print outs, Teddy's bed and toys. Just what we could quickly grab. Pretty much everything else could be replaced.

The only real problem is that John lived above the bar, so...he's technically homeless at the moment. Fortunately he had insurance on his home, the business, AND the building as a whole, so it's only a matter of time until he get's a new place.

Until then he's crashing at The Clubhouse. He said he doubts he'll be able to outdo the place, but he's gonna try.

I might have considered helping, but everything I did with MY building ate about half my funds. He's going to get a few hundred thousand from the insurance though, so he'll be fine anyway.

I just need to find some more drug dealers to bust up and start rebuilding my stash.


	208. Chapter 208

_**Mako's Message: **Back to school season has been nuts. We do more business now then we do during the Christmas season. I also don't handle heat well. With my son back in school and temperatures starting to drop, I hope my productivity will increase. Fingers crossed. _

_And right now I'm too tired to write anything else._

_Enjoy._

* * *

I haven't been in a writing mood lately, so I guess now I have to play catch up again.

I don't know why. Just haven't been...itching to get stuff out of my head the way I usually am. I guess that's a good thing. But then nothing has really happened worth writing about. Everything has been pretty tame since the invasion. Which, again, I guess is a good thing.

It's left me pretty bored though.

Even with John and Teddy there, things have fallen back into a routine at The Clubhouse. Dave jogs to my house, then we meet up with Angela, then Katie, then to The Clubhouse. I give the three of them some things to work on, and I work on my own things, we work out, then some sparring practice. Dave is pretty good on his own by this point though. He almost doesn't need me to help him anymore. Only when he starts working on something new do I have to help him with his form. Otherwise I've already given him plenty to work on and he just does it without me telling him to.

He's started working on the rings a lot surprisingly. I put those in for me, but he uses them more. Probably because he ends up getting to them first. He's also never gotten really comfortable with aerial moves, so I end up just working on my acrobatics while he's on them.

I can't really blame him though. It's not like he's ever had to jump to hit someone in the face. He also doesn't have to put all his body weight into it to knock people down.

Kinda makes me wonder how he'd fare in a fight against me if he was going 100%. I think the only time he ever hit me full power was that time he kicked me in the face, and the only reason that it was full power is because that was back when Dave thought he had no chance of actually hitting me. Now I know he always holds back a little. It's kind of annoying. I mean, how am I supposed to get better if he's not pushing me as hard as he can?

Okay, I hold back on him all the time, but that's because if _I_ didn't hold back I'd kill him.

Angela and Katie don't have that problem though. They beat the crap out of each other on a daily basis. They just seem to have come to a mutual agreement to not hit each other in the face. I don't blame them though. Black eyes and split lips are a bitch to hide.

Sometimes one of them will slip though, and then it's anything goes.

Dave gave me shit the first couple of times I stopped what I was doing to watch, but he stopped when he started doing it too.

I took them both out to lunch after training the first time that happened and it didn't devolve into hair pulling.

Angela kept asking if this meant I was going to let her make a costume and go out with us. I just looked at her and said, "You're lucky if you beat Katie, and I wouldn't trust Katie to win in a fight against more than one person."

Katie, for some reason, seemed pleased by that. Not sure why, but I definitely caught her smirking when I said that.

Angela pouted for the rest of lunch.

Maybe I should have Dave hand them both their asses at the same time. Then they might get it into their heads that they shouldn't be on the streets.

Actually, maybe I should have Dave, Angela, and Katie spar against me at the same time... That'd show Angela and Katie what they should be striving for, and adding Angela and Katie to my spars might be just what I need to keep me on my toes.

I will definitely have to try that next time.

Anyway, we turned one of the upstairs rooms into a playroom for Teddy. It's not like we have the other two rooms rented yet so it's not exactly a loss.

Teddy is starting to get big though. He must have been born pretty close to when we got him, because back then I could pick him up pretty easily. Now... not so much. I mean, I can still pick him up, it's just... It's not like picking up a stuffed animal anymore. I wouldn't do it for fun and cuddles.

He's still adorable though. He's super fluffy and he LOVES to play. He's starting to put on some muscle though, so he's not as cuddly as he used to be. And if he gets excited he can bowl me over if I'm not ready for him.

I'm as excited as I am scared to see how big he's going to be when he's an adult.

John is having a little trouble finding a new place. Mostly he doesn't know if he wants to reopen his bar or if he should just take this as sign that he should retire since, "The Lord has plans for us all."

He is retiring as field member of Justice Forever though.

He hasn't told anybody but me and Dave yet though, since we haven't had an official meeting since the old place burned. He's still going to run the group and organize volunteer work, but he's going to stop going on patrols and start sitting out our raids. Unless we really need him of course. But right now he says he's "just too old to be getting into brawls." and that "the Spirit is willing but the flesh is weak."

Dave said he thought John was still a tough as nails badass and I agreed.

He said, "You're too young to understand. I'm probably still in better shape then most people, but I can tell I'm slower than I used to be. Even light tussles have me feeling it for days. If The Guardian hadn't been there that night I'd be dead right now."

Dave suddenly went silent for a minute then said, "I know what you mean. If this is what you think is best then I'm okay with it."

I don't know what Dave was talking about. Sure, he's had a few moments where if I hadn't been there he'd have died. So have I. But it never stopped us. If anything, it just made us train harder. But if Dave was going to support him I wasn't going to argue with him any more.

I mean, it's not like I want him to die. I just think it'd be a shame for him to quit when he's still so good at this.

I don't even know why I feel like this is worth mentioning, since it only happened because I was bored out of my skull. But the other day I was at Atomic comics with Todd, and I'd gotten there a little early and Todd had gotten there REALLY early so Marty wasn't there either and Todd had already finished reading all his comics.

So, I didn't want to start reading my comics without Dave, since we read most of the same ones, so I decided to just wait and get something to drink. Well, Dave texted me and Todd, and he probably texted Marty too but whatever, to say that things were nuts at work and he'd be late.

I started texting Angela, but she was doing something with her family so she wasn't exactly responsive. I even sent Dillion a text but he didn't respond at all. Marty was late too so about a half hour after we were all supposed to meet it was still just me and Todd and Todd had his face in a Pokemon game and I was seriously starting to reconsider waiting on Dave to read my comics.

Then Todd suddenly says, "Son of a bitch! Why can I never beat this guy the first time? Now I have to ride the stupid ferris wheel again."

So I said, "Okay, what the fuck are you doing?" and got up went around to sit next to him.

And he said, "Oh, uh, well, in this game, I have to beat this guy here in a pokemon battle. Before we battle though, I have to talk to him while we ride on a ferris wheel."

And I said, "Okay, weird, but whatever. What's the problem?"

"I don't know! I thought I was ready for him this time but he still beat me, so now I have to go through the whole conversation again."

"Well, maybe I'll see something you're not."

And he looked at me like I was an idiot and said, "Do you know anything about Pokemon?"

And I said, "No but that's why I might be able to help you. I'll see something you're overlooking."

And he said, "Uh...huh... Okay. Whatever. Couldn't hurt."

So I sat over and started watching him play and I said, "Okay, tell me what you're doing and why you're doing it. Actually, tell me why everything that's happening is happen."

So he started telling me about this pokemon liberation group while he was walking, and then about the items he was buying, and which pokemon he was putting in his party, and about move powers and weaknesses and abilities while he was leveling his pokemon up for round two. It was a LOT to take in, but by the time he went back to fight the guy again I was starting to get the hang of it.

He lost again, and then looked at me and said, "Well? Got any suggestions?"

I just shrugged and said, "Two, maybe. But one isn't really a suggestion and the other is so obvious you must have a reason for not doing it."

So he said, "Well what are they?"

"Well, you could level up your guys up more, and just over power him." and he just nodded and rolled his eyes like, "no duh." Then I said, "Or you could get new pokemon."

And he blinked at me and said, "What?"

So I said, "Well, three of your guys got obliterated by one of his. If you just go find something that'll type trump that one, then you don't need to spend so much time leveling up your current team."

He said, "Well, yeah, I could, but I'd have to spend more time leveling that one since it'd-" then stopped and just seemed to stare off into space for a minute, before diving back into the game muttering to himself. About five minutes later he said, "Okay, I'm gonna challenge him again, wish me luck."

So I watched him, and he'd put one of the pokemon he'd switched out before back in his party, and I guess that made all the difference, somehow, because he won pretty clearly. It still came down to their last pokemon, but when he sent his last out, his opponent was hanging on by a thread. When he went down Todd yelled, "For the Queen!" Then said "Yell yeah." and fist bumped me.

That's when Marty said, "This is why you're never going to get laid." Todd started to say something but Marty cut him off with, "That was over six months ago and she was drunk. You can't keep claiming it."

Then Dave said, "Can't keep claiming what? Sorry I'm late. New guy couldn't handle the pressure and bailed on us."

And from there they talked about Todd's non-existent love life and Marty kept trying to give him advice on how to get with girls. Dave offered some advice as well, but his advice was more "don't do anything Marty tells you," than actual advice. Though, I suppose it is good advice in it's own way.

I didn't have anything to add to that conversation. I'm hardly a good example of what girls want and I can't get the guy I want so I ended up inadvertently defending Todd.

And that was probably the most interesting thing to happen lately.

Which is really, really, REALLY fucking sad.


	209. Chapter 209

_**Mako's Message: **..._

_Ya know, I don't really have anything to say about this chapter and I don't feel like waiting to come up with something so..._

_Enjoy!_

* * *

I can't believe I fucked up again.

This is the third time I've made an ass out of myself in front of Dave in three months.

And this time it was in front of other people. Even worse, it was in front of KATIE.

At least I wasn't naked this time.

Everything was going fine. Everything was normal. Just another of day of training. Dave was taking a break, I was working with Angela, trying to correct her stance, so Katie went to go get something to drink.

I had my back to her, so I didn't know she stopped to talk to Dave until I heard them talking. She asked him, "So, did you ever decide about college?"

And as soon as she said the word "college" it was like my blood turned to ice. Not just a chill down my spin or some shit, I was frozen, and I was actually terrified of what he was going to say.

And of course he said the worst possible thing, "Oh, yeah, I'm starting this fall. QCC."

I kinda screamed, "What?" when he said that, and everybody just started staring at me.

Dave said, "What?"

And, still screaming, I said, "What did you say?"

He looked all confused and said, "That I'm starting at QCC?"

"WHY?!"

And he just blinked at me, like he didn't understand why I was screaming and said, "So I can get an education and a decent job?"

"You HAVE a 'decent' job!"

Then he just gave me that look and said, "I wouldn't call NYBC a decent job. And even if I did, I don't want to work there my whole life."

And that just threw me off for a second, but after I figured out what he meant I said, "You have TWO jobs! One is okay and you don't even need it, and the other is AWESOME!"

And then it was Dave's turn to look surprised, and he said, "I don't plan on doing this until I die, Mindy."

So I said, "Oh, so you're just going to ditch me then?"

And Dave said, "What? No! Who said anything about ditching you?"

I said, "You did! When you said you were going off to college!"

Then he facepalmed and said, "Mindy, QCC is Queensborough Community College. I'm not going anywhere. Now will you stop yelling?"

Then I said, "Oh, okay, that makes it SO much better! So you'll be around for another, what? Four years? Then you're going to go off and get a 'REAL' job and go live a normal life with Riley?!"

"What is WRONG with you?! We can't keep doing this forever! Eventually we're going to have to hang it up, or we're BOTH going to die out there! Our luck wont last forever and I don't know about you but I want to have a life after this!"

"This IS my LIFE! This is WHO and WHAT I am and I wouldn't give it up for anything! I thought you felt the same!"

"Things change Mindy! You might get shot and killed tomorrow. Or crippled next week. Or maybe you'll luck out and live to be Hit Granny. But I'm not you. I want to die peacefully, and not from being beaten to death in the street. So someday, I AM going to quit. Maybe it'll be a decade from now. Maybe it'll be tomorrow."

"That's why I NEED you Dave! And you need ME! We're partners!"

And then Dave said, "We ARE partners. And partners should help each other and respect their decisions."

"Maybe I'd respect them if they weren't to pussy out on the one thing you're actually good at to go live a boring ass life behind a desk with your perfect barbie fuck doll!"

Everything was silent after that. The kind of silence were it's not just everyone stopped talking, but where everybody stopped breathing. Where everyTHING stopped moving and if you didn't know better you'd think even everyone's heart had stopped beating.

It's those moments that give you clarity. Like the eye of a storm. A moment that let's you think, "Oh shit."

And Dave was the first to start moving again. He stood up straight, looked right at me, and said, "I'm done here." and walked out.

It's rare for me to be frozen. Not like, "Oh shit, freeze, don't make a sound, don't move" frozen, but the kind of frozen where you're screaming at yourself to move but you can't.

By the time I could make myself move he was already out the door and he'd locked it behind him. It only took me a second to unlock it, but it was all the time he needed to be gone.

He didn't answer any of my calls. He didn't answer Angela's calls. He didn't answer Katie's calls either, but none of us actually thought he would.

I thought that after he'd had time to cool down, he'd let me talk to him, but he didn't show up for our morning jog. I waited so long that Angela called me and asked me if I was coming.

I told her practice was canceled today.

I don't know what to do.


End file.
